LT article Supt. Candidate: Dr. Ron Heilmann

Updated: 3/8/2008

Ron Heilmann, superintendent of the Oshkosh Area School District, is
one of two finalists for the job in Eau Claire.
Staff photo by Steve Kinderman

Candidate's priority? Establishing dialogue
By Christena T. O'Brien
Leader-Telegram staff O'Brien can be reached at 830-5838, 800-236-7077
or christena.obrien@ecpc.com.
While he talked to a number of people during his interview Friday, Eau
Claire school superintendent finalist Ron Heilmann plans to keep
talking if selected for the job.

"My first priority, if hired, would be to meet in a more meaningful
way with the administrative team, teachers, parents and community
members and have a deeper discussion," said Heilmann, superintendent
of the Oshkosh Area School District.

Heilmann, one of two finalists for the superintendent's post, spent
Friday in Eau Claire, meeting with the school board, staff and
administrators, touring elementary, middle and high schools and taking
part in a community focus group. The other finalist, Randall Clegg,
superintendent of the Clinton (Iowa) Community School District, went
through the same process Thursday.

During a short break in his daylong interview, Heilmann answered a few
questions.

What strategies would you implement to help local students get a good
education within budget constraints?

I think the first thing you need to develop is a long-term plan ...
that encompasses everything.

The situation with budget constraints and the way that the revenue
caps work, I believe, isn't going away in the near future. If you look
at state and national trends with the downturn in the economy, it's
probably a good bet that we're not going to see a lot more money in
public education, ... so I think we need to develop a long-term
strategy.

That means not only talking to the administrators; you have to have
deep, meaningful conversations with parents, with students to find out
which of the programs and services that we currently offer are valued
and what sort of things are we doing ... that maybe aren't being
delivered with the same power.

(In dealing with budget difficulties,) you have to be cautious that
you don't do two things: Make blanket across-the-board cuts and not
first ask what are the programs and services we need, based on how
student needs have changed.

What is your philosophy on increased reliance on student fees for
families that can afford to pay them?

I believe that's a dangerous and slippery slope.

First of all, you have to ask yourself what is the criterion that is
used for determining whether a family can afford them. School
districts, because it's an easy measure we have at our disposal, often
use the free and reduced lunch rate. Unfortunately, I know a lot of
families that don't qualify for the reduced lunch rate that really
struggle when they have to deal with any sort of fees.

In addition, if you're charging fees in certain areas and not in
others, ... you have to seriously ask whether or not you're going to
affect and impact participation rate.

When I first came to Oshkosh (in 1998), we had no fees in anything.
Then we put in what we called a textbook fee, (a per-student fee with
family caps), which was very minimal. Then the board decided to take
that fee out. We did put in an athletic fee and have since expanded
that into a co-curricular fee for when there are costs that go way
over and above. We control (and monitor) that very closely.

Some people like to say that the K-12 system should focus more on core
subjects and back off on electives and extracurricular activities to
help balance its budget. What is your response to that suggestion?

Wrong step to take.

In educating students, there are times that we need to emphasize
certain things. (For example), students, I believe, in kindergarten
through third grade need to come out at the end of third grade with a
strong basis in literacy and mathematics. If they don't have a solid
foundation in those areas, they're going to struggle later on.

(That said), schools are about a lot more things than the core subjects.

Throughout my career, I have found ... there are these things called
hooks - ways of hooking kids into education to kind of keep them there
a little longer, and many times those are the co-curricular
activities. If you take those away, you now have taken away a hook
that might have been important.

Many people who no longer have children in the school system - many
retired - complain about high property taxes to help support local
schools. What if anything will you do to reach out to that group?

We need to bring those groups into the schools more and more.

In Oshkosh, we have a grandparent adopt-a-student program, which has
worked out really well. We also reach out into the community by having
a lot of our school groups go out into the community, whether it's at
a retirement home or any sort of different venue. We find that to be
very, very valuable.

I think the other thing to do is to pass on information. A lot of
times retired taxpayers are folks who own their homes, and they need
to understand that their home is likely the most significant
investment in their life. If they want to protect that investment, the
best way to do that is to ensure a high quality public school system.

What experience do you have in reaching out to the business community
to help support school programs?

Probably, the single most important one that we've had in Oshkosh, and
it's in other communities, is called Partners in Education. It's a
time we meet about every six weeks, where we sit down with our
business partners and talk about what is it that they expect from our
schools, what is it they want to see in young adults?

Having those deep and meaningful discussions becomes absolutely critical.

Another thing we've done in the Oshkosh school district ... is a
post-graduation employer survey. We ask do you hire OASD graduates? If
that's the case, are these students coming directly to you from high
school, are they students who maybe come directly from high school and
you put into a technical college program ... and then ask them very
specific questions in a number of areas, (such as) skill levels.