Dr. Tremayne Clardy, Superintendent of the Verona Area School District: Building a Legacy of Excellence
Dr. Tremayne Clardy, superintendent of the Verona Area School District, is still enjoying the work five years in.
by Jonathan Gramling
Dr. Tremayne Clardy, superintendent of the Verona Area School District, is till enjoying the job. The district is fiscally sound with a growing enrollment.. But he also approaches his job as a collaborator rather than a top-down administrator, working with the other educational components to creating a rich educational experience for the students.
“I generally feel that the support of our community, from our board of education in terms of the direction that we’re going in our school district is outstanding,” Clardy said. “The progress we continue to make in terms of closing any type of opportunities for achievement and ensuring that all of our students get everything that they deserve in terms of a quality education are improving year after year. And I commend our amazing staff that we have here at the Verona school district. They are truly relational, dedicated, hard-working and highly qualified staff who make it all happen.”
It’s a growing district that that will be adding another elementary school in the next few years.
“Due to our community and the great work of our board of education, we have purchased a property in Fitchburg in the King James Way area that could be the future site of an elementary school as our community continues to grow,” Clardy said. “We’re very proud that we serve multiple municipalities, including Verona and Fitchburg. The potential Fitchburg site could be a game changer in terms of our community school with walkable access. Just looking at our data offhand, there are approximately 350 plus students who would live in walking distance to the future site. That really just solidifies the community and makes sure it is a great place that families know their school belongs to them and eliminates a lot of the long bus rides that happen right now. We’re very excited about what this means for the next few years of our district, but most importantly for some of our families that have not had walking access to schools.”
Especially since the pandemic mental health and wellness for both students and staff has been a priority for the district. It is currently remodeling the district’s administrative building and converting part of it into a wellness center.
“We are engaging not just in terms of the resources that we are providing in terms of counseling services, but also the in-house clinic that we are building where we will have mental health and wellness services for our staff and their families right here on site,” Clardy said. “We have deprogramming for our students and student groups that focus on wellness and mental health. Most importantly, we are doing a lot of support to families to ensure that we have full wrap around services that extend between the school and the home to best support our students.”
While the federal budget cuts to education will be felt by every school district, Verona has taken measures to ensure that they provide a quality education for all children.
“Just thinking about the philosophy around funding for public education, we are very disappointed in the mindset of fewer dollars for supporting public education, which we know is the greatest equalizer in our country,” Clardy observed. “Specifically when we look at our Title money, which is Title I and Title III, Title I really supports our families and students who need it the most and to have the funding or resources simply removed from families who need it the most is disturbing at best. So with that said, the Verona school district has ensured that regardless of what the mindset is in terms of federal funding, we will continue to provide resources to ensure those families still get the access that they deserve to an education, to make sure the multi-lingual programming stays strong and Title I, which supports some of our free and reduced lunches, that we don’t do anything to jeopardize the food subsidy, the great education and any of the resources that they need for our students to have access.”
Advances in technology have also made the district adapt so that the technology is harnessed for the best interests of the students. “Off and Away” for cell phones is beginning to become a district-wide policy, one building at a time.
“This year, the high school is doing what the middle school has been doing for the last few years, which is an ‘Off and Away” classroom procedure,” Clardy said. “It’s a school-based policy. Mr. Cox, the building principal for Verona Area High School, just sent out a letter with all of the details around expectations for cell phones this year. There will be advisory lessons throughout the school year in terms of what Off and Away should look like. We really want to make sure that with the work of our world-class staff that we have that there are no disruptions to that educational process. Sometimes cell phones can be that true distraction. So we are trying to remove the distraction from the space knowing that there are other means of communication to our families that continue to allow us to have a safe environment.”
And AI, artificial intelligence, the district is working to use its power responsibly without undermining the educational process.
“With artificial intelligence, we have a responsible use policy, which is ensuring that artificial intelligence is not used for plagiarism or duplicating work or inappropriately documenting our non-research work,” Clardy said. “That’s a part of our appropriate use policy that all students and staff have to sign off on. We are teaching students how to appropriately use AI, how to look for bias within the responses. Used appropriately, it can be effective. In terms of how we are engaging with it to elevate both the instruction and the access to students, AI is kind of the next step in allowing students to engage deeper and think deeper. But more importantly, it really can personalize some of the instruction that students need because you are able to download the Wisconsin State Standards into AI. As students are providing responses, it can help look for gaps in standard space or grade level appropriateness and then be able to close those gaps by identifying where those gaps exist. But like all things, we have to be responsible and professional development is the appropriate training.”
Clardy realizes it’s a team effort in providing a quality education for all students in Verona area schools. As the district progresses forward, he is sure to praise board and staff. They — and the students — are in it together.