With 23 years on the Austin Board of Education, no one dares dispute John Ulland when he says his is a voice of experience.

Tuesday, September 28, 1999

With 23 years on the Austin Board of Education, no one dares dispute John Ulland when he says his is a voice of experience. That’s the primary reason Ulland decided to join the race for school board "one last time."

"With a new superintendent I thought a little experience wouldn’t hurt things," Ulland said Monday afternoon from his spot at the farmer’s market. "If Doug (Myers) had stayed on, I don’t think I would have felt the need to run again."

He stressed that his priority is kids – all kids.

"I just like to make sure that we always focus on the best education for the kids," the long-time farmer and pumpkin-patch king said. " … and to make sure that each kid gets the same opportunity. I’m not a single interest board member and neither is anyone else on the board right now – that’s a good thing."

In his time on the board, Ulland has been through two major budget cuts: one when the local referendum failed to pass; the other when the state had to make some unexpected cuts. He’s also served on a number of state and regional boards – the Southeast Minnesota Cooperative and Cedar River Education Board to name two – and attended many a school board convention.

"You get a lot of good ideas from those conventions," Ulland said. "I think that’s something the board needs to look at doing more of. That may be the most important thing board members can do – educate themselves."

As an example, he talked about a workshop on discipline and alternative schools that he attended in the 1970s.

"We were having a problem with discipline then," he said. "We got a lot of guidance from some of the contacts I made there."

Ulland and his wife Jan raised three children in the Austin Public School system and now he has three grandchildren going to school here.

"Of course I have a stake in their education," he said.

In closing, Ulland wanted to talk about the upcoming referendum – which will pass or fail on Nov. 2, the same day as four of 17 candidates for school board will learn their fate.

"It really hurts education when you’re forced to make cuts," Ulland said. "It’s the board’s responsibility to tell people what the potential problems are if the referendum fails, but it’s the people’s job to pass it. I hope they remember that – it’s very important to the well-being of our students."