Karen Bowen: Vision

What is vision? Vision is a broad statement that gives an organization its shape, allowing it to then set specific goals which govern its day-to-day operation. If a vision is to be taken seriously, it must be memorable and able to be accomplished, but it should also challenge the organization to move to the next level of accomplishment.

The vision of excellence, equity and efficiency accomplishes this task because it allows the OASD to govern the operation of the long range facilities plan; it also challenges the district to move to the next level of providing the best education for all students in the community.

Providing excellence for all students is the most important part of this vision. It's hard imagine that anyone would believe that our students are worthy only of "good" or "standard" education, and certainly, electing school board members who can envision an education that is less than excellent makes no sense. One could argue that excellence is in the eye of the beholder, but in education we have many measures of excellence, including, but not limited to, test scores and looking at what our graduates accomplish when they leave us. While our students do well on many measures of excellence, my concern is that if we allow the district to remain the way it is at this point in time, we will no longer have the resources to maintain even current standards, much less take the district to new levels.

Everyone has already pointed out that equity does not mean that everything in every building is equal, but instead that students have equality of opportunity in every building. It has also been pointed out that every school community in Oshkosh is excellent. We are very fortunate to have excellent staff (in fact, our staff is what makes our district excellent) in every school community. Because some of our buildings do not function well for 21st century purposes, staff and students need to work extra hard to obtain that equality of opportunity. In the case of art and music in some buildings, this is simply not possible. Is it fair to teachers and students in some buildings to spend the bulk of their time in art and music setting up and taking down equipment, while at other schools, students can use all their time in learning? Is it equitable to have special education students bused all over the district to receive services that can not be offered in their home areas because of buildings that can not accommodate their needs?

The answer to these questions is obvious, and the time has come for the OASD to decide how it will look in the future. Because our district also values efficiency, which could be defined as wise use of taxpayer dollars, and because the state funding formula limits our resources, the ways in which we will continue to provide excellence and attempt to provide equity are also limited. Will we look back in 30 years and wish, as we do now, that previous generations might had invested more in our facilities and in excellence for the future?

Let us hope that we have the wisdom to give our students the excellence that they deserve as equitably as possible so that all Oshkosh citizens can be part of a strong Oshkosh future.