of work in their area. When I saw that listed as one of the top priorities for the Verona Area School District, that they wanted to continue and go deeper in their equity work and accelerate the excellence that is already here, that was key to understanding this is the perfect fit for me and my family.”

The Verona Area School District is relatively far-flung and diverse in almost every use of the term. It comprises rural, urban and suburban areas.

“The Verona area is obviously the city of Verona, the Town of Verona, a piece of Fitchburg, Middleton and Madison,” Clardy said. “We have various racial backgrounds, various socio-economic backgrounds and varying languages. We are a family-centered community that has high expectations of excellence in education. It is my responsibility to make sure that no what your demographics are with race or ability or where you live in our service area, that you get the same access to education. That has been my focus from day one, to make sure that we have equal opportunity for every student to access the greatness that is here.”

Clardy is the right person for the job, having lived experiences that many of his students now experience.

“A well-kept secret is that I grew up on a farm in East Texas with the chickens and the horses and the cows right outside my window,” Clardy said with a chuckle. “And I think sometimes this suit fools people, but that is where I grew up. I understand what it means when you make decisions around start times and taxes and how that impacts farmers maybe differently than it impacts urban areas. I bring that perspective having grown up and lived in both areas. It really allows me to lead and bridge the voice between urban and rural areas. I’m from San Augustine, Texas.”

And Clardy can relate to the recent experiences the Verona students have gone through.

“If you are going to make a change, why not do it during a pandemic,” Clardy said. “I can relate to what the students have gone through and the challenges that they faced. I think what has been the most challenging is opportunities to just sit down and have face-to-face conversations. Zoom has been okay and it gets the job done. But it is nothing like the personal interaction. Let’s sit down and have a coffee. Let’s sit down and just talk about what the hopes, desires and dreams of your children are and have those types of dialogues. We lost a big component of that during the transition. We’re doing our best to make it up and still made it work. But there is nothing like human interaction, especially when you are talking about children. We all love our children.”

Clardy’s optimism is infectious. Almost like Babe Ruth calling a home run, Clardy confidently states that Verona Area schools will be a National Model of Excellence Grounded in Equity.

Clardy has been making the transition to Verona when he was under contract as a consultant until the former superintendent left the position on June 30. Clardy’s family moved into the district recently so that he too is impacted by the decisions he makes.

And he was able to make the transition due to his long time mentor Dr. Carlton Jenkins, the MMSD superintendent.

“They didn’t have to be as flexible they were allowing me some time to transition,” Clardy said. “Dr. Jenkins has just been great, absolutely great with not just the flexibility and being able to transition to Verona Area Schools, but also the ongoing mentorship and the ongoing advice and really putting the expectations of what it means to be a superintendent in front of me. I would not be in this seat as superintendent if it weren’t for Dr. Carlton Jenkins. He’s been my mentor for 15 plus years now. He’s been a big brother. We go all the way back to Rock County. We’ve kept in touch over the years. When I saw that he was going to be the superintendent of the Madison Metropolitan School District, it was just perfect to have a mentor and one of the top superintendents in the nation come and join us at Madison was great. He’s always pushed me. He’s always helped me reach my potential. And there are expectations that I pay it forward and that’s what I am looking to do right now.”

There was a time when Verona was a small city that was quite distinct from Madison. With Epic Systems making Verona its home among other changes, Verona is now a fast-growing suburb.

“We have four traditional elementary schools, three charter schools — one is a k-8 charter — two traditional middle schools, and one high school,” Clardy said. “We’re projected to be around 5,750 students this fall. And we may go a little bigger. We are also offering a virtual option to make sure that students who are not quite comfortable to an in-person environment have the opportunity as well. We are offering a dual opportunity for students. As I said, we are ever growing and expanding. I think that speaks to the greatness of our staff here. People want to have their education in the Verona Area School District. People want to have their education in these facilities. And we are excited that we are growing like this. It’s almost impossible to find a house. They are selling them as fast as they can build them. It’s a very, very popular area. And it is very popular because of the school system and the education that we provide.”

Verona Area School District is changing and it isn’t looking back.

Next issue: Implementing Equity