Dr. Dana Monogue

Dr. Dana Monogue specializes in educational leadership, student-centered learning and community engagement. As Superintendent of Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District (MCPASD), she focuses on academic excellence, innovation, staff development and meaningful connections with students, families and the community. She has co-developed Wisconsin’s Aspiring Superintendent Program. Monogue also serves as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and coaches principals and district leaders through national and state administrator associations.

Shaping Culture and Direction

MCPASD serves approximately 7,300 students across 12 schools with about 1,200 staff members, and Monogue connects with them the same way each week: visiting every school in the district. Her weekly visits are among the ways she prioritizes building and maintaining strong personal connections with staff and students. Monogue is highly visible at each school, helping to foster environments where everyone feels empowered to grow into the best version of themselves.

Her leadership style is rooted in research, continuous improvements and results. As an instructional leader, Monogue works with educators and administrators to provide innovative programs and courses. Preparing students for jobs that may not yet exist drives her focus on acquiring knowledge, skills and dispositions for varied life pursuits. She builds a culture where a sense of belonging is a foundation for success.

Monogue emphasized the importance of a sense of belonging for students and staff, inspired by Dr. Doug Bolton’s book Untethered: Creating Connected Families, Schools, and Communities to Raise a Resilient Generation. She created a book club and series of focused discussions around the book, which explores the complexities of social-emotional learning in youth and reframing education and the process of growing up. Through this work, a meaningful transformation is underway in how staff respond to students away from compliance and towards compassion and community-building.

“Our educators and staff pour their hearts into teaching and supporting our students, and our administration recognizes their efforts and believes it’s critical to offer a workplace and culture where staff are empowered and supported,” Monogue said. “Our employees uphold the highest standards of educational excellence, and they’re devoted to our students and schools. We recognize the impact they make in our students’ lives.”

Another hallmark of her leadership style is access. Staff who are new to the district as well as families and community members share how they’re pleasantly surprised to learn how responsive Monogue is. She is known for responding to emails from any stakeholder and inviting those with questions to meet in-person for deeper conversations.

Monogue engages community leaders, legislators and stakeholder groups across the eight municipalities through events, presentations and individual meetings. These connections help her gather feedback and communicate clearly.

She prioritizes talent development through a future educator program, a “grow your own” staff program and professional development and leadership pipelines.

Monogue treats fiscal stewardship as a district and community value. She works with the nine-member Board of Education on budgets and priorities while maintaining transparent budget and audit reporting.

Monogue makes the complex public education landscape easier to understand through clear, concise communication. Amid changing policies and public discourse, she acts as a governance partner who grounds decisions in what is right for students and staff, while being a steward of hope.

Empowering Students

Monogue is a strong student advocate who has expanded pathways for students to succeed. She has championed innovative programs including SOAR, an affiliate program of the national Center for Advanced Professional Studies (CAPS) program. It immerses students in professional environments and connects them with industry partnerships and mentors to solve real-world challenges. Monogue has also strengthened dual-credit programs for students to earn college credit while in high school.

“ The more opportunities we give our kids to deeply investigate potential areas of post-secondary interest while they are with us in a K-12 setting, the better. “

In addition to strengthening college readiness, she prioritizes workforce readiness. High school students can participate in numerous youth apprenticeships in the skilled trades, including partnering with local builders to construct a new home in the community.

Rohan Dileep, Middleton High School class of 2026 alum, who currently attends the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said, “Meeting Dr. Monogue really was a turning point in both my life and my career going forward, just because I know I want to work in communities after seeing what she has done.”

Monogue also emphasizes cross-disciplinary courses and early access to the arts, including orchestra beginning in fourth grade and band in fifth grade, to ensure that students experience both academic rigor and opportunities in the arts.

“Dr. Dana Monogue is, without any reservation, the most extraordinary person to have touched my education,” said Middleton High School class of 2025 graduate Noah Duckett, who currently attends Harvard College. “She is the superintendent every district deserves and few receive.”

Eight years into her superintendency, Monogue points to several achievements. MCPASD earned a Significantly Exceeds Expectations rating on Wisconsin’s 2024-2025 state report cards, recorded the second-highest ACT composite score in the state, and received the Wisconsin State Journal Top Workplace award twice.

Under her tenure, MCPASD ranked No. 1 in Dane County, has completed nine consecutive years of clean financial audits and passed an operational referendum in 2022.

Preparing Students for Tomorrow

Monogue has led community members in developing MCPASD’s future-preparedness framework. The framework resulted in eight competencies for varied life pursuits after graduation, embraced by educators and the wider community.

The district groups the framework into four mindsets. Curiosity encourages questions, exploration and openness to learning. Community-orientated develops responsibility through empathy, inclusion and contribution to the collective good.

Self-awareness helps students understand their thoughts, emotions, behaviors and areas for growth, while accountability emphasizes responsibility, follow-through and dependability.

Four foundations support these mindsets. Collaboration develops respectful teamwork, shared decision-making and learning with others. Communication builds clear expression, active listening and purposeful dialogue, helping students adapt messages to different audiences and value other perspectives.

Critical thinking and problem solving help students evaluate information, identify patterns, consider perspectives and make informed decisions.

Adaptability helps students respond to change, uncertainty and complexity, recognize when established approaches no longer work, consider alternatives and view changing circumstances as opportunities for growth and innovation.

Building the District’s Future

Monogue’s current priorities include a November 2026 operational referendum supporting school safety, staff recruitment and retention, robust academic and extracurricular programs, building maintenance and small class sizes.

She also plans to expand career and professional studies, giving students more opportunities to explore postsecondary interests. Existing programs include medicine and healthcare, business, education, digital and media marketing and biomedical engineering.

Monogue further aims to strengthen whole-child support, belonging and engagement while developing future leaders. Within five years, she hopes every student has a postsecondary plan, as MCPASD closes achievement and opportunity gaps.

Her advice for aspiring leaders is to become comfortable with discomfort, hire people who are better than them, build relationships before they are needed and remember why the work matters.