I attended this public forum session and found Dr. Clegg to be extremely articulate and experienced in one of my top concerns for the ECASD: fostering meaningful community participation. My concern about his skills in leading a district twice the size of his current one in Clinton, IA remain. However, new energy, motivation and ideas can always overcome this possible shortcoming. Repeatedly Dr. Clegg referred to involving the community in planning for facilities, prioritizing spending and building consensus for ideas through communication and education about the issues and problems. Comprehensive Community Planning cannot come soon enough for us in the ECASD!
Maria
Updated: 3/7/2008
School candidate questioned
Budget worrisome
By Brad Bryan
Leader-Telegram staff
Eau Claire school district superintendent finalist Randall Clegg was given a public interview of sorts at a forum Thursday at DeLong Middle School.
Oshkosh school district superintendant Ron Heilmann, the other finalist for the position, will take part in a similar forum from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. today at DeLong.
Those submitting questions seemed most concerned about how Eau Claire's next superintendent would react to continually shrinking budgets.
Clegg - who is superintendent of the Clinton, Iowa, school district - provided answers to a series of written questions before a crowd of about 30.
The first question dealt with curriculum and the budget process in his current district.
Clegg said that when he came to the district he had a directive from the school board to "bring order" to the district's curriculum.
After consulting parents, and through a series of meetings, he identified six big issues around which the curriculum was formed, he said.
Clegg said he then involved 50 of the district's teachers in the process of creating the material. He sequestered them in a hotel for three days and told them, "You can't come out until you get this designed."
Addressing the second part of the question, Clegg said he's spent the last 20 year developing a budgetary process that addresses declining revenues. He said his process identifies functions within the budget and their costs, then determines the benefit of funding or not funding each function. It also allows for public input in the process.
"The reality is, in school systems, the needs will always outstrip the money, and how do you make those decision about what you do you fund?" he said.
Clegg said having a clear plan in place should drive those decisions.
The next question involved deciding which programs to reduce or eliminate in upcoming budgets: athletics, higher education, gifted and talented programs or extracurricular programs such as band and choir.
"It's all about creating balance," Clegg said. "It's not easy to cut or eliminate any one of those."
A cost-benefit analysis and identifying community goals should also play a part in those decisions, he said.
"There shouldn't be sacred cows in deciding what the budgetary priorities are," he said.
To answer a question about his feelings on exceeding revenue caps, Clegg gingerly stated that those types of decision should be made on a community level.
Clegg has been superintendant of the Clinton school district for the past 12 years. Before that he was superintendent of the Saydel Consolidated, Sac City and Dumont school districts, all in Iowa.
The school board is scheduled to meet with Dennis Richards, its search consultant, Monday night in closed session to discuss the selection of a new superintendent.
Bryan can be reached at 800-236-7077, 830-5840 or brad.bryan@ecpc.com.
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