In January, the Board of Education unanimously voted to select Dr. Dan Nerad as our next Superintendent. This selection is pending a successful contract negotiation and a final background check. Dan is currently the Superintendent of the Green Bay Area School District.

The Board wishes to thank everyone that was involved in the Superintendent search process, from participation in the community/staff focus groups in September though the "meet and greets" and school tours that were part of the interview process.

When we started the process of replacing Superintendent Rainwater, the Board made the decision to focus on community/staff input up-front so we could use this information to guide the process. We had almost 400 people participate in the process of identifying "Desired Superintendent Characteristics". The Board approved these characteristics and the information was used to screen and interview candidates and ultimately select Dan Nerad as our next Superintendent.

The interview process was quite intense, including 4 hours of interviews with the Board, meetings with staff, meets and greets with the community and time with the Madison media. The ability to interact with the community and press was viewed as part of the interview process. The Board also had 3 unplanned "scenarios" for each of the candidates where we watched/evaluated their interactions and responses throughout these events.

Dan Nerad is a proven leader who was able to provide tangible examples of meeting the Desired Superintendent Characteristics set by many of you. Three Board members visited the school district in Green Bay and talked with teachers, community members, parents and Board members about their experiences working with Dan. Everything we heard supported and validated our selection.

Dan Nerad is a student-centered leader who possesses effective communication skills, strong collaborative and visionary leadership skills, experience and demonstrated success in a diverse community and school district (Green Bay schools have a higher poverty level than MMSD), and knowledge of research-based instructional strategies to challenge and engage students at all points along the educational performance spectrum.

He is accessible, open-minded and will build consensus and support for a shared vision for the future.

The Board looks forward to working with Dan as we start a new chapter in the Madison Metropolitan School District.

Related MMSD Links

• Daniel Nerad's news conference