Paul Wagemann Emphasizes Value When it Comes to Education

Paul Wagemann is all about value.

Personal values, family values—and, as a director on the Clover Park School Board, the value of an education.

Wagemann is seeking a second term on the board. He was first appointed in 2009 when Ellie Falk resigned and was later elected to her remaining two years on the board.

Wagemann is the only school-board member facing opposition in the November election – , a teacher in the Bethel School District, filed to run against him. Not that he minds, though.

“It’s always nice to get a free pass, but I think for the process and the way our country is set up, it’s great to have choices,” he said. “If the voters don’t have a choice, it’s a dictatorship, so that’s a good thing.”

Besides, he said, “It’s great that people want to step up and do this. Do you realize how many few people really run for office? Trust me, it’s hard work.”

Wagemann himself rang 15,000 doorbells this past year during his unsuccessful bid for the state Legislature. He is pondering another run in 2012 to be a state representative.

“Having experience as a school-board director would really help me down in Olympia,” said Wagemann, who believes that the state should have two budgets: one for education and one for everything else.

Paul Wagemann is clearly a man with something to say.

“You need to be humble, approachable and credible,” he said. “Being a retired Marine, my wife would probably say I am a little too arrogant. But I would really like to be humble. I want to hear what people have to say.

“But when I get a chance to sit at the table, I need to speak what’s on my mind.”

He believes he brings a unique voice to that table.

While the board’s primary focus is student achievement, “I try to bring in the business point of view: How do we get the best value for our educational dollars?”

Wagemann pointed out that the Clover Park School District spends an average of $11,000 a year per student – “and when you throw construction costs in, it’s more than that” – so it’s natural for the taxpayers to wonder what it really costs to put a child through school.

“Is it a good thing?” he asked of the $11,000. “Well, it’s got to be a number, so the question is whether we get the best value for those dollars, and I am overjoyed when students do well.”

So does Wagemann think the voters are getting a good value by electing him?

“I think I’ve done a great job,” he said.

Wagemann grew up on a dairy farm in California and joined the Marines during the Vietnam War. He came north to attend the University of Washington in 1970. He earned an aeronautical degree, met his wife, Linda, and then went on to test-pilot school.

Upon retiring from the Marines in 1991, he returned to the area and took over his father-in-law’s computer business in Olympia. He now does software consulting. His sons, Jay and Scott, graduated from Lakes in 1996 and 1999, respectively.

“They went through the system,” he said, “and my youngest son has said, ‘Dad, I think we could have done better.’ ”

It is that belief, coupled with pride in his sons’ accomplishments—Scott has a master’s degree in physics and Jay is finishing his master’s in theology—that drives Wagemann’s ambitions.

“The bottom line, when you ask why I’m in this, is that we want our young people to do well.”

Wagemann feels strongly that whether a student goes onto college or not, their education does not stop once they leave CPSD.

“On the board, we try to make a very clear message of what we’re doing,” he said. “We’re always focusing on having our students being lifelong learners.”

That goes back to the people, he said.

“Education is our community’s responsibility, not just the school district’s,” he said. “Sure, we have the lion’s share, but it takes all of us.”

Wagemann said that debt is a huge national problem, but that he certainly does not want to see less spent on education.

“But the other side of the argument is, if we throw more at it, would it get better?” he said. “Are we getting the value?”

In addition to his official board duties, Wagemann makes it his personal mission to visit his five schools—the board splits up the district’s 27 buildings—three times a year.

“It’s amazing, the growth,” he said. “The schools that are succeeding and achieving at (Annual Yearly Progress) and those types of things, there are two key issues: The first part of it is making early assessments of children and then early intervention.

“Couple that with collaboration among teachers, and when you do those types of things, it’s the best opportunity for the whole system to succeed.”

Such successes are what Wagemann likes to see—but that’s not to say he's satisfied with all aspects of the system, though.

Among his ideas are doing away with grade level and rather schools operating as “hybrid classrooms” where children would be able to learn at their own pace. That, in turn, could save the district money if a student finishes school early.

He acknowledges that the idea is somewhat controversial.

“You look at all of these little blocks—kindergarten, first grade, all the way up to your PhD. In this state, we have 180 classroom days, and then you move onto the next block—but it doesn’t say anything about mastery of skills.

“In the ghettos of India, you have kids on laptops with the Internet taking MIT courses and they’re whipping our kids,” he said. “In our state, we’re making it very difficult to use online learning. I’m not saying online learning is for every child—there are seven styles of learning—but we go to the readers and the math, and we’re not hitting them all.”