Dr. Joe Gothard, Superintendent of the Madison Public Schools: Madison’s Favorite Son (Part 1 of 2)
Dr. Joe Gothard, who took the helm as superintendent of the Madison Metropolitan School District in May, was born and raised in Madison and worked for MMSD for many years.
by Jonathan Gramling
When it was announced that Dr. Joe Gothard was appointed to be the superintendent of the Madison Metropolitan School District, it created a positive buzz in the district, from search firm members to former school board members to current and former parents to community leaders. Many, many people had worked with Gothard over the years or had been touched by his work within the school district. Some were disappointed that he wasn’t appointed superintendent back in 2012 when Superintendent Dan Nerad left the district. And so Gothard comes into his new position for what is expected to be a relatively long “honeymoon” period as he takes the reins of the district.
Gothard is an unabashed eastsider who understood the role of schools at a very early age.
“I had an older brother at La Follette High School,” Gothard recalled. “And he was part of the school’s first state basketball championship team. It was 1977. What I remember the most about that — I was about 4-5-years old — I don’t remember the score of the games or the actual games, but I remember the people being excited and being together. It was all about school. It was about the team, but it was about the school. I remember sweatshirts around that time. ‘I’m Proud to be a Little Lancer.’ It seems so silly now that I look back on it, but that was the dream. The dream was to be part of something bigger, a school community to represent your school, your neighborhood and your family.”
And as he was growing up, Gothard learned the importance of schools in creating a sense of community.
“I grew up right around the corner from Elevhjem Elementary School,” Gothard said. “So naturally, I spent every waking hour there on weekends and school days either in the woods, on the fields or the ice rink and of course the school. It just became a refuge for me and my friends. That was our meeting place. ‘Let’s meet at the park.’ And the park meant school. Outside of school time, it was MSCR. Elevhjem had a summer rec program and I spent every
waking moment there. On the days it was closed were the worst days of my summer. And the games we played, the activities we did were important. But the mentors whom I got to meet there were great. These were probably high school or early college students coming back to work in the summer. It was great to be connected to adults in that way. The East Y was the other place, now the Lussier Family YMCA – East. Again that was a place that welcomed me and I got to meet others from our community who valued the lives of the people there. It was a real community center.”
And Gothard is grateful to the educators who kept him engaged in school, buit also, probably unbeknownst to him, saw something in him and helped mold hime for his future educational career.
“Certainly people I’ve looked up to in my professional career, Dr. Mike Meissen truly provided me a pathway to my success,” Gothard said. “He graduated my oldest brother from La Follette, so he’s always been like a big brother to me. Certainly my middle school teacher, Lois Bell, it’s well-documented what she meant to me. She was my first and only Black teacher. She is someone who really took an interest in me. She would give me that proverbial elbow or sometimes a hug provided me with direction when I needed it. She was just a very firm, calm, caring individual in my life. As much as I credit her for being an educator, I credit her for me being the person I am today. She had a big influence on just the way that I show up, whether it’s with my family or the community. I am grateful to her.”
That support didn’t just come from people whom Gothard worked with directly. It came from all different people in the community.
“I remember the first time that Milt McPike demonstrated to me that he knew who I was and he was very interested in my success,” Gothard recalled. “I remember how empowering that was. Someone like Milt McPike knew who I was through the community. The fact that I got to go to Toki years later and be his granddaughter’s principal and reconnect with him and Sharon in that way before his passing of course. John Olson who was last an assistant superintendent, but also an educator and principal was very involved in the community in so many ways including as coach. He coached with my dad at Central back in the 1950s. He too also always took an interest in my career, whether it was coaching or teaching or meeting for breakfast and having them share with me the direction I needed when I was considering what my future was going to be as a teacher, administrator or coach. It was people like John who just provided me opportunities.”
While the Madison public schools impacted Gothard’s life in so many ways, he didn’t grow up thinking that he would grow up to be an educator and eventually lead a school district.
“That wasn’t in the cards,” Gothard said. “I had to experience failure and disappointment. I had to experience not knowing what to do. I had to experience a chance to grow and not give up. It was this community’s refusal to give up on me that allowed me to continue to push and persevere. No it wasn’t always my dream. I didn’t even know who the superintendent was although my high school diploma in 1989 was signed by James Travis. I didn’t know who he was. I didn’t know what a superintendent was. The late Nan Brien was the board president at that time. I grew up in the same neighborhood and went to school with her kids. But I didn’t know what the school board did. I knew that maybe it was this title.”