Reflections/Jonathan Gramling
In Good Hands
I turned 72-years-old back on August 20th and people ask me at times how long I will continue to work at The Capital City Hues. As I look around the community, I see that most of my peers have retired and regrettably, many have passed away. And if I had worked for someone else, I probably would have retired with the rest.
But way back when I was a UW-Madison undergrad in the early 1970s, I committed myself to learn the truth. And still today, after over 50 years, there is still a lot of truth to be learned and discovered.
I also am very grateful that I work for The Capital City Hues that is African American, Latine, Asian American and Euro-American owned, written and read. As the seal in the lower left of this page, we are a proud MBE. We are a small, community-based newspaper that plays, in my humble opinion, an out-sized role in the Madison Metropolitan Area.
And the paper allows me to continue to see the truth, something that I will never possess, but something that is quixotically important to pursue. I love interviewing people because I learn something new every time that I do so. And it allows me to interview people whom I otherwise would not have met if I hadn’t been a journalist.
It was my privilege to meet and interview four school superintendents from the broader Madison area — Dr. Rainey Briggs of Baraboo, Dr. Tremayne Clardy of Verona, Dr. Joe Gothard of Madison and Dr. Monica Kelsey-Brown of Waunakee — who will be impacting a small city of approximately 38,000 children over the next nine months during the 2024-2025 school year.
What is wonderful about these excellent educators — who happen to be Black — are their connection to community and feel the need to involved staff, students and parents in the decision-making process.
I’ve known Dr. Rainey Briggs since he was in middle school, mentored by Keith Burkes in the Madison Urban League’s Project Jamaa back in the 1980s. Rainey has come a long ways since his childhood in Sommerset, which was the roughest subsidized housing project at the time. I am immensely proud of him.
I got to know Dr. Tremayne Clardy when he was a principal at Sennett Middle School before becoming the chief of schools for elementary schools at MMSD before becoming the Verona superintendent.
I can’t count the number of times that I have crossed paths with Dr. Joe Gothard over the past 25-30 years.
And while I didn’t know Dr. Monica Kelsey-Brown before our interview, I did find out that she was a part of the community through Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.
“I am an AKA,” Kelsey-Brown proudly said. “This is my 35th year. And I am proud of it. My sister is an AKA and my daughter is an AKA. The legacy is there.”
And I found out through the interviews that Clardy and Kelsey-Brown had something in common. They both earned degrees from UW-Whitewater and both received the school’s Distinguished Professional Award — one year apart.
These fine educators are in it for the right reason, to ensure that every student is successful in their schools regardless of their demographic or cultural background. This isn’t just a job for them, they care about the children — all of them. It is an avocation, a personal mission of theirs.
And it appears to me that while they are in charge of these institutions that impact our society’s future and bear a lot of responsibility, they don’t have an attitude about it or exude a sense of importance. Their focus is not upon themselves. They are focused on the well-being of the staff, family and parents for whom they are responsible. Their values and goals are in the same great place.
Eliminating disparity is important to these four superintendents. Each of them are driven by an asset model, knowing that all students are capable of developing their God-given talent and intelligence under the right conditions and environment. Each of these superintendents as a positive, can do attitude that they will move the needle so that all students are succeeding. And I can’t help but feel that that attitude will rub off on students and staff and they will move the needle of achievement together.
On another note, all olf the superintendents recognized the current push for literacy for students. If you can’t read proficiently, you won’t be able to science and math and every other subject.
And one of the finest local examples of literacy is Sisters with Books, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary. These women meet 10 times per year — meaning they have met 300 times to discuss books that they have read in common. And by doing so over the years, they have become better communicators. I am sure that it has helped them in their personal and professional lives.
And so, on a final note, parents aunts, uncles and everyone else, please read to you children beginning in infancy. Teach them how to sound out the words and show them the importance of reading by practicing it. There is no better gift that you can give to your child.