Johnny Winston Jr. looks at the coming school year
School year primer
School year primer
MMSD School Board Member
Johnny Winston Jr. in front of
the Doyle Administration
Building
Johnny Winston Jr. in front of
the Doyle Administration
Building
By Jonathan Gramling
Part 2 of 2
As we sit in the Avenue Bar talking over lunch, MMSD School Board Member Johnny Winston Jr. is a little
tired. It’s been a full summer of community activities including the Streetball block party he sponsors. He’s also
adjusting still to his new job with the Madison Fire Department as a fire investigator. Winston is excited about his
daughter starting at Kennedy Elementary School this fall. And then there is the Madison school board.
The Madison school district has been working toward implementing four-year-old kindergarten district wide like
many school districts in Madison have done. In many ways, Madison has been a leader in child caring services
over the years and because it has been so far out front, it has an established sector of private pre-school providers.
And it has a strong teachers union, so it has had to move with all deliberate speed in establishing a four-year-old
program.
“While there won’t be four-year-old kindergarten this upcoming year, I would like to be optimistic that we can
develop a four-year-old program the following year, in the 2010-2011 school year,” Winston said. “We want it to be
comprehensive and high-quality. And to do that, we definitely have to work hand-in-hand with the community
providers. And there are going to be things, unfortunately, that maybe they aren’t comfortable with. And as a district,
maybe we are uncomfortable with things on the other side. Somehow, we just have to work together, get at the
same table and work together to figure out those issues. A big issue we face is the bargaining aspect of this with
Madison Teachers, Inc.”
According to Winston, the academic achievement gap between African American and Euro-American students
Part 2 of 2
As we sit in the Avenue Bar talking over lunch, MMSD School Board Member Johnny Winston Jr. is a little
tired. It’s been a full summer of community activities including the Streetball block party he sponsors. He’s also
adjusting still to his new job with the Madison Fire Department as a fire investigator. Winston is excited about his
daughter starting at Kennedy Elementary School this fall. And then there is the Madison school board.
The Madison school district has been working toward implementing four-year-old kindergarten district wide like
many school districts in Madison have done. In many ways, Madison has been a leader in child caring services
over the years and because it has been so far out front, it has an established sector of private pre-school providers.
And it has a strong teachers union, so it has had to move with all deliberate speed in establishing a four-year-old
program.
“While there won’t be four-year-old kindergarten this upcoming year, I would like to be optimistic that we can
develop a four-year-old program the following year, in the 2010-2011 school year,” Winston said. “We want it to be
comprehensive and high-quality. And to do that, we definitely have to work hand-in-hand with the community
providers. And there are going to be things, unfortunately, that maybe they aren’t comfortable with. And as a district,
maybe we are uncomfortable with things on the other side. Somehow, we just have to work together, get at the
same table and work together to figure out those issues. A big issue we face is the bargaining aspect of this with
Madison Teachers, Inc.”
According to Winston, the academic achievement gap between African American and Euro-American students
is still huge. And in his view, it will take a whole village to reduce the gap, if not eliminate it. “The school district needs to do its part, do a better
job of working with African American students,” Winston said. “We have to challenge African American students better than we are right now. At
the same time, the community has a role in this as well, that as a community, not to just challenge the school district, but we also have to
challenge our students to do better and to want to take the advance placement courses that are necessary to go to college. We also need to make
sure that they know that education truly is the key to success. In that sense, we have to lead our students by the hand and get them involved in the
programs that get them ready for college institutions. And for those students who are not college-bound or have other skills, we need to get them
ready for the kind of skills that they need in order to be successful. A school district that is failing its students, in essence, is failing the
community. So we just know we need to continue to work hard.”
While the district’s budget has been continuously squeezed each year, it has managed to implement some innovative programming in
conjunction with some community partners to help reduce the achievement gap. “We have some programs that I think are very good,” Winston
said. “We’re looking to expand the AVID Program, which is a partnership with the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County. It started at East High School
and now the program is at West and Memorial and soon to be at La Follette. Also La Follette is working on a program called GED II. Students who
are deficient in terms of their credits, 17-18 years old that have very few credits, have an issue in graduating from school. This isn’t going to
happen if we do it the traditional way where they have to go school and they only have a few credits. So La Follette is developing a GED II
Program where students who are very credit deficient would go to a class and get their GED. But it will be a GED through the school district and
the diploma will say Madison Metropolitan School District as opposed to a general equivalency diploma. I think that will help students.”
Recently, the school board passed a plan for the talented and gifted program, something that hadn’t happened since 1991. While Winston feels that
a talented and gifted program is important to the district’s future, he also feels strongly that the plan needs to be inclusive.
“How do we — if we’re doing cluster grouping, which is grouping students on their ability levels — make sure students of color and lower
income students are a part of the higher levels of education,” Winston asked. “I had made the suggestion to make sure that within the plan, we
stated who the underrepresented students are. That was accepted by the superintendent and was put into the plan. There is a lot more work that
needs to be done. But at the same time, you have to start someplace. And I think there are a lot more students of color who could be involved in
programs and services that are labeled ‘talented and gifted’ than there are right now. At least we have the plan and now we just have to see if we
can implement it.”
The Madison school board is beginning the process of evaluating MMSD Superintendent Dan Nerad after his first year, something that Nerad
insisted on when he took the superintendent’s job. “We’re going to continue to use the process of the former superintendent, at least to start,”
Winston said. “And then we’re developing a new evaluation tool to evaluate the superintendent in the future. That’s a big thing that is on the board’
s radar. The superintendent asked to be evaluated. I think it is only fair. It’s a difficult situation when you have seven elected board members
evaluating one person. It’s hard to do, but we have to do it. That’s part of our job descriptions and we’re fortunate that we’ve been evaluating the
superintendent on a regular basis over the past several years.”
And speaking of evaluation, Winston’s term will end next April and he is in the process of determining if he will run for re-election. Winston
has had a lot on his plate including his daughter entering kindergarten this fall and added job responsibilities. “I have some decisions to make
and I’ll make those decisions fairly soon,” Winston said. “The community will know what I’ve decided to do and obviously, the community will get
the opportunity to either vote for me if I decide to run or they will get the chance to vote for someone new in the position if I decide not to run. I’ll let
the community know what my intentions are. We’ll see what happens. I have to see what the future holds for Johnny Winston Jr.”
job of working with African American students,” Winston said. “We have to challenge African American students better than we are right now. At
the same time, the community has a role in this as well, that as a community, not to just challenge the school district, but we also have to
challenge our students to do better and to want to take the advance placement courses that are necessary to go to college. We also need to make
sure that they know that education truly is the key to success. In that sense, we have to lead our students by the hand and get them involved in the
programs that get them ready for college institutions. And for those students who are not college-bound or have other skills, we need to get them
ready for the kind of skills that they need in order to be successful. A school district that is failing its students, in essence, is failing the
community. So we just know we need to continue to work hard.”
While the district’s budget has been continuously squeezed each year, it has managed to implement some innovative programming in
conjunction with some community partners to help reduce the achievement gap. “We have some programs that I think are very good,” Winston
said. “We’re looking to expand the AVID Program, which is a partnership with the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County. It started at East High School
and now the program is at West and Memorial and soon to be at La Follette. Also La Follette is working on a program called GED II. Students who
are deficient in terms of their credits, 17-18 years old that have very few credits, have an issue in graduating from school. This isn’t going to
happen if we do it the traditional way where they have to go school and they only have a few credits. So La Follette is developing a GED II
Program where students who are very credit deficient would go to a class and get their GED. But it will be a GED through the school district and
the diploma will say Madison Metropolitan School District as opposed to a general equivalency diploma. I think that will help students.”
Recently, the school board passed a plan for the talented and gifted program, something that hadn’t happened since 1991. While Winston feels that
a talented and gifted program is important to the district’s future, he also feels strongly that the plan needs to be inclusive.
“How do we — if we’re doing cluster grouping, which is grouping students on their ability levels — make sure students of color and lower
income students are a part of the higher levels of education,” Winston asked. “I had made the suggestion to make sure that within the plan, we
stated who the underrepresented students are. That was accepted by the superintendent and was put into the plan. There is a lot more work that
needs to be done. But at the same time, you have to start someplace. And I think there are a lot more students of color who could be involved in
programs and services that are labeled ‘talented and gifted’ than there are right now. At least we have the plan and now we just have to see if we
can implement it.”
The Madison school board is beginning the process of evaluating MMSD Superintendent Dan Nerad after his first year, something that Nerad
insisted on when he took the superintendent’s job. “We’re going to continue to use the process of the former superintendent, at least to start,”
Winston said. “And then we’re developing a new evaluation tool to evaluate the superintendent in the future. That’s a big thing that is on the board’
s radar. The superintendent asked to be evaluated. I think it is only fair. It’s a difficult situation when you have seven elected board members
evaluating one person. It’s hard to do, but we have to do it. That’s part of our job descriptions and we’re fortunate that we’ve been evaluating the
superintendent on a regular basis over the past several years.”
And speaking of evaluation, Winston’s term will end next April and he is in the process of determining if he will run for re-election. Winston
has had a lot on his plate including his daughter entering kindergarten this fall and added job responsibilities. “I have some decisions to make
and I’ll make those decisions fairly soon,” Winston said. “The community will know what I’ve decided to do and obviously, the community will get
the opportunity to either vote for me if I decide to run or they will get the chance to vote for someone new in the position if I decide not to run. I’ll let
the community know what my intentions are. We’ll see what happens. I have to see what the future holds for Johnny Winston Jr.”
