Madison Metropolitan School District

Joe Gothard

Joe Gothard serves as Superintendent of Madison Metropolitan School District. An educator and district leader, he has held roles spanning classroom instruction, school administration and district leadership. His career includes leadership experience in multiple communities before returning to Madison.

Shaped by Experience, Guided by Perspective

My career has given me the opportunity to see education from different vantage points. I began as a teacher, educational assistant and football coach before moving into school and district leadership. I also spent 11 years outside Madison, leading two districts in another state. Today, I have returned to the city where I was born and raised to lead its school district.

Leaving Madison exposed me to different cultures and ways of working, while returning home brought me back to the values I developed here. From an early age, I learned from teachers, coaches and mentors that a classroom, school or team becomes stronger when people understand their role in something larger than themselves.

Those experiences taught me to consider decisions from different positions, adapt to changing circumstances and reconsider my approach when needed.

Understanding Before Acting

In a large system, it can be easy to make a decision before understanding its consequences. Transportation is a simple example. When deciding how students will get to school, it can be tempting to rely on policy or budget constraints and move on. I would rather understand how that decision affects the student, teacher or family involved.

That does not mean everyone will agree with the outcome. I may make a choice that someone does not like, but my responsibility is to understand the circumstances before reaching it and taking recommendations to our board of education.

That responsibility is particularly important in public education, where decisions affect children at the earliest stages of their formal education and the adults supporting them.

Making Room for Change

I was already a teacher when Madison Metropolitan School District introduced Eudora, our first email platform. Looking back 25 years later, the pace of technological change is remarkable. Technology now shapes how students learn, communicate and access information, as well as how families navigate school.

For me, technology policy is a matter of judgment rather than a simple question of access. Some tools can enhance learning, open career pathways, or help students communicate. Others, including social media, can distract from learning. We need to recognize that distinction rather than place every form of technology in the same category.

“We may have extensive education and experience, but we are not always right. Giving ourselves some grace allows us to acknowledge that, learn from it and improve.”

I want to maintain balance. Any technology we provide should have a relevant and meaningful connection to education, but definitions can become overly rigid when translated into blanket policies. We have worked hard to create individualized educational pathways, so our approach to technology should reflect the different ways students can benefit from information.

The same principle applies to the systems families use for attendance, grades and fees. As technology evolves, we need to ask whether the systems and restrictions we create are helping people engage with education or creating unnecessary barriers.

Leading Through Presence and Humility

I often tell our administrators that our best ability is visibility. I try to be present in our schools and communities, attend events and remain accessible to people who need help navigating a question or problem.

Leadership also requires structure. We need intentional time for our central office, schools and teams to bring concerns forward and work through them together. Simply putting people in the same room is not enough. We need opportunities for meaningful problem-solving.

My understanding of leadership was shaped by recognizing my own mistakes. When I was student teaching, I struggled to explain a complicated genetics lesson to an honors class. I could see that the students couldn’t understand me, so I stopped, regrouped and returned the next day with a better explanation.

That experience taught me that humility matters. We may have extensive education and experience, but we are not always right. Giving ourselves some grace allows us to acknowledge that, learn from it and improve.

Continuous growth cannot be something we expect only from students. Adults have to demonstrate it too. I encourage emerging leaders to use humility and vulnerability thoughtfully, sharing what they have learned without assuming they understand another person's experience.

Young people are perceptive. They know when the adults around them are grounded and genuinely trying to help them be their best. Leadership, to me, means remaining willing to learn and showing others that growth is part of the work.