Dr. Jack Krause Enters Clarkstown Education Hall of Fame

One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is a vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child -- Carl Jung developer of the concepts of 'Introverted' and 'Extraverted' personalities.

I was honored to be in attendance at the June 06, 2013 Clarkstown School Board meeting to hear my friend, Dr. Jack Krause, nominated by another dear friend, Tamara Bierker, along with Mike Roes, Gerold Bierker and Mary Whitford, to enter the Clarkstown Education Hall of Fame.  Tammy was a School Counselor in the Middle School for 34 years and prior to that she was a Vocal Teacher/ String Teacher/ Guidance Counselor at North and South High School. Gerry Bierker started as a Math teacher at North then became an Assistant Principal at South for 12 years.  He ended his career in Clarkstown as a Principal of South High School for 12 years and then became a County Legislator for 12 years. Jack was the Superintendent when my three children passed through Clarkstown South. 

Here is the nomination speech Tammy gave on Jack's behalf and his acceptance remarks: 

Bierker: During the process of collecting information for this nomination, we asked many people who worked with Jack to give us a short statement about what stood out in their relationship with Dr. Krause.  

Here is what people said:

Always a leader for education in a strong, quiet manner ... Open door policy for every employee in the district ... Always fair ... Mended fences within the district ... A gentleman in everything he did ... Knew every person in the district by name ... Outstanding Peacemaker ...

In 1985 the Board of Education in the Clarkstown School District had been through an extremely difficult few years and had approached the Commissioner of the New York State Regents, Thomas Sobel, regarding a recommendation for a Superintendent who might be qualified to bring peace to a troubled school board.

Mr.Sobel suggested Jack Krause, the then Superintendent in Middletown, NY.  The school board decided to recruit Dr.Krause with great determination, to come to Clarkstown, and the rest is history. It is rumored that the Middletown School District has never forgiven Clarkstown for hiring their favorite Superintendent.

Although there are many contributions that Dr. Krause made to the school district, the most important was the suggestion, planning and implementation of all day kindergarten.  There was some very strong opposition to all day kindergarten and some very difficult Board of Education meetings prior to the first year of implementation.  Clarkstown School District was one of the first districts in Rockland County and in New York State to implement all day kindergarten.  As we all know, the research is strong and decisive regarding the academic strength of districts that have all day kindergarten.  Just think over the last 24 years since the inception of all day kindergarten over 18,000 students have benefited from this wonderful program.

During Dr. Krause’s tenure as superintendent the Board of Education approved a proposal to move forward with the planning stages for a middle school in Clarkstown.  The implementation did not take place for two more years while the district Middle School Study Committee completed its goal to recommend a middle school to the Board of Education.  The Middle School in Clarkstown was put in place during the 1996 -97 school year, which was one year after Dr. Krause retired. The success of the Middle School speaks for itself and continues to be referred to as the flagship school of the Clarkstown School District.

Dr. Krause improved the cooperation with the Interfaith Council in the district. He guided this group to establish, along with the district unions and school board, the Clarkstown School Calendar in an effort to respect as many holidays and religious observance days for all faiths in the district. In addition Jack expanded the work of the districts Human Relation Committee in an effort to address the tensions that still existed from the two strikes in the Clarkstown School District. There were people in the Clarkstown School District who did not speak to each other for years after the strikes. It was obvious that Dr. Krause was using his skills as a leader and a peacemaker to help Clarkstown move forward.

The State Regents Action Plan was put in place while Dr. Krause’s was the Superintendent which included the development of a mission statement for the district, parent and community committees for shared governance of a school district. Jack's leadership in the district made this very difficult state mandate much more effective to help our students.

Throughout New York State Dr. Krause was a respected educational leader.  He served as President of the New York State Council of School Superintendents in 1986.  The year Jack retired there were 44 retiring School Superintendents out of which Dr. Krause was chosen to receive the highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award.

Dr. Krause has served as a professor at both NYU and SUNY New Paltz. Even after his retirement he not only taught in the graduate division for School Administration but he has supervised the Administrative Internship of graduate students for many years.

Truly Dr. Krause was an outstanding Superintendent in the Clarkstown School District but above all he is an educational leader whose leadership has affected thousands of students and adults.

We all thank you Dr. Krause for your leadership and dedication to the Clarkstown School District.

After a presentation by the School Board Dr. Krause made the following remarks: 

Krause:  Thank you, Tammy, that was beautifully done. I would like to just say that Gail Koss was also very instrumental in hiring me. She was on the Board of Education and was in a way appointed to guide me and my wife, Joan, to become integrated into the new community and we have remained friends all of these years.  

I am very grateful to people like Joe Malgieri and Diane Hoeneveld – we worked together for a number of years - Bob Carlucci with whom I was active in Rotary together and Lilyane Lorusso.  I am sorry not to be able to mention everyone but it is so wonderful to see so many friends here and to receive this honor and I am really very grateful for it.

I just want to tell you that the person behind whatever accomplishments I had is my wife, Joan, of 56 years (sustained applause). I will tell you just one wonderful accomplishment of Joan.  

I have been a School Superintendent for 32 years in three different districts and an administrator for about 36 years and in all of those years I have met with Boards of Education many times. Joan told me tonight – my wife who has been a community leader behind the scenes in the three communities that we were in when I was getting the honors, or the criticism and where she was making tremendous community contributions of her own and continues to do it to this day – she told me something this evening that we didn’t realize until tonight that of all of those years and Board meetings that I attended this is the first Board of Education meeting in any district that she has ever attended (sustained laughter and applause). 

How did we manage that (sustained laughter and applause)? Anyway thank you all so much for this honor (sustained applause). 

This article was written by Michael N. Hull who has the pleasure of spending most Fridays with Jack playing golf and trying to break 100. Joan Krause was given a life membership by the Salvation Army of Rockland County in recognition for her many years of service.  Please join me in adding your memories and thoughts about Jack's service to our community in the comments section of this article below.