Kettle Moraine School Board President Gary Vose will retire after 36 years on the board
The Kettle Moraine School Board will look different this spring. For the first time in 36 years, Gary Vose won't be part of it.
Vose, who serves as president, is not seeking reelection. His term expires at the end of April.
"I've been on the board since 1987, and I felt now is the time to pass the torch to others," Vose said in a Feb 28 phone interview. "My wife and I have been doing a little traveling, which we enjoy. It was just time to move on to new things."
Vose said he would miss being part of guiding the district.
"I think we have a great district. I think others recognize we have a great district, so it isn't just an internal view. But things are changing, and I'll miss being a part of that change and being part of the leadership that helps manage those kind of changes, whatever they happen to be, going forward," Vose said.
Plum said the district will miss Vose's historical knowledge and his personality.
"He was just very kind, very good hearted and also a wise person that was very good at being clear even when people are not happiest," said KM Superintendent Stephen Plum.
Daughter's comment prompted him to approach the school board
Vose's interest in serving on the board started in 1986 when he heard one of his daughters, who was in kindergarten at the time, say something he considered inappropriate from the movie "E.T." as she played with her older sisters.
She told her dad she had heard the phrase while watching the movie at school because students were inside for recess.
"That's funny, but here's the broader concept that got me energized: Why are we showing kindergarten students PG movies at recess because it's raining?" Vose said.
Vose took his concern to a school board meeting. Then-Superintendent Earl Brakken apologized and assured Vose it would not happen again.
Vose was pleased with Brakken's response.
"I said 'Dr. Brakken, you've said more than I thought you would say. I am very satisfied with that answer. Now that's great, as long as you're going to deal with it going forward, I'm a happy camper,'" Vose said.
Later in the meeting, a board member announced he was stepping down. Vose applied for the position, but was not appointed.
Vose ran for election the following spring, but ended up losing by four votes. Brakken called Vose at work the next day to tell him he could ask for a recount.
"He said, 'Well, it's so close, I don't know if it'll change or not, but it's so close that under state law, you can ask for a recount, and it doesn't even cost you a nickel," Vose recalled Brakken telling him.
Vose agreed to the recount and ended up winning by four votes.
Since then, Vose has been re-elected every three years. He was first elected board president in 2006 and asked not to remain president the following year due to his wife's brain cancer diagnosis but stayed on the board. The board reelected Vose as president in 2012, a position he has remained in ever since.
Technology, charter schools and the board's relationship with staff
One of the changes during Vose's tenure has been in technology.
"When I first got on the board, we didn't have computers. We didn't have smartphones. We weren't able to virtually have classes so you could go to school at home, that type of thing," Vose said.
One thing that hasn't seen much change is the district's leadership. During Vose's time on the board, the district has had only four superintendents: Brakken, Sarah Jerome, Pat Deklotz and Plum.
"You have that consistency. You have very talented individuals in the senior leadership role running the district. I would argue there probably isn't another district in the state that's had that kind of consistency and that type of talent in the superintendent role within the district for that length of time. So that's something (we're) very proud of, that we were able to hire those kinds of people," Vose said.
In looking back at his time on the board, Vose also pointed to the Transformation Task Force that Deklotz was part of as a teacher. She implemented some of the task force's ideas after she became superintendent.
Among those ideas: internal charter schools, which Vose said allowed the district to experiment with new learning methods. The charter schools include KM Explore at the elementary school level and KM Perform, KM Global and KM High School of Health Sciences at the high school level. The district also now has KM Connect, a virtual charter school.
"It isn't that one is better than the other. It's just different. A lot of this really stems from the concept that if you can get the student's attention, if you can provide the education in a way that really emphasizes things they're interested in, they're going to take hold of that, own it and get a better education," Vose explained. "So rather than just being a sponge in the classroom listening to a teacher present facts and figures, they are much more individually involved and actually designing their education and making sure that what they're learning has application."
Vose said the district's success comes down to fostering trust and hiring the right people. When he first joined the board, there wasn't a lot of interaction and trust between the staff and the board.
"I think we've overcome that, and I think there's a lot of trust today," Vose said.
"We allow them to do their jobs. We certainly have oversight of what they're doing. We don't agree with them 100% of the time, so when we disagree, we can override something they want to do, but at the same time, it's allowed us to set up a model where there's trust between the board and the staff, which I also think is very important," Vose said.
The influence of politics
Another way the board tried to build connections with the staff was in the wake of Act 10, divisive legislation that passed in 2011 that limited collective bargaining and resulted in many public workers paying more for their benefits. Vose said the district changed its healthcare plan as a result.
"They learned that, over time, we were able to provide a benefit that was very good. It's not like the kiss of death from a healthcare standpoint. We just were able to find more efficient ways of providing the healthcare insurance, and they're still covered," Vose said.
Act 10 is an example of how politics have trickled down into school districts. Statewide and nationally, Republicans and Democrats have become "so far apart from one another," Vose observed.
"It's become emotional, and that's not healthy for either side, I don't think," he said.
Vose also referred to the Republican Party's influence in area school board elections, along with hot issues like how to handle Pride flags and pronouns.
"A lot of very heightened things going on in society now that's trickling down into schools that's making the life of a school board member quite different than 15, 20, 30 years ago," Vose said.
More time for family
Once he retires from the board, Vose plans to spend more time with his family, travel more and get more involved in his church.
Vose continues to work part time on the board of directors of a small, privately owned company.
"As I told people, I learned the right way to retire. I work about a day a week, and I can make my own schedule with the company I'm on the board with. So it keeps my fingers in the game, so to speak," he said. "I enjoy the people I'm working with, but at the same time I have as much free time as I'd like."
Contact Alec Johnson at (262) 875-9469 or alec.johnson@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AlecJohnson12.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Kettle Moraine School Board president to retire after 36 years
