John Porco
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John Porco is an at-large member of the Verona Area School District Board of Education in Wisconsin. He assumed office on April 26, 2021. His current term ends on April 27, 2026.
Porco ran in a special election for an at-large seat of the Verona Area School District Board of Education in Wisconsin. He won in the special general election on April 4, 2023.
Biography
John Porco was born in Madison, Wisconsin. He earned a bachelor's degree from Grinnell College in 2005 and a graduate degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 2014. His career experience includes working as a teacher educator.[1]
Elections
2023
See also: Verona Area School District, Wisconsin, elections (2023)
General election
Special general election for Verona Area School District Board of Education At-large (2 seats)
Incumbent John Porco and incumbent Korbey White won election in the special general election for Verona Area School District Board of Education At-large on April 4, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | John Porco (Nonpartisan) | 52.2 | 6,766 |
| ✔ | Korbey White (Nonpartisan) | 46.9 | 6,081 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.9 | 118 | ||
| Total votes: 12,965 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
The primary election was canceled. Incumbent John Porco and incumbent Korbey White advanced from the special primary for Verona Area School District Board of Education At-large.
2021
See also: Verona Area School District, Wisconsin, elections (2021)
General election
General election for Verona Area School District Board of Education At-large (3 seats)
The following candidates ran in the general election for Verona Area School District Board of Education At-large on April 6, 2021.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Kalyanna Williams (Nonpartisan) | 22.9 | 2,915 | |
| ✔ | Jennifer Murphy (Nonpartisan) | 22.0 | 2,794 | |
| ✔ | | John Porco (Nonpartisan) | 16.1 | 2,054 |
 | Carolyn Jahnke (Nonpartisan) | 15.1 | 1,924 | |
| Nicole Vafadari (Nonpartisan) | 15.0 | 1,909 | ||
| Leotha Stanley (Nonpartisan) | 8.3 | 1,053 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.6 | 71 | ||
| Total votes: 12,720 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
The primary election was canceled.
Campaign themes
2023
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
John Porco did not complete Ballotpedia's 2023 Candidate Connection survey.
2021
John Porco completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Porco's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I am a parent of three school aged children, and an educator. I currently work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the teacher education program while finishing up my dissertation research on literacy and social and emotional learning in the classroom. Previously I have been the treasurer and president of both a local pre-school, as well as my children's public charter school. While serving with the charter school, I guided the organization through the process of re-chartering with our district. I have also served on my district's Personalized Learning Committee helping to guide the rollout of our personalized learning initiative. I also served on our district's Strategic Planning Committee, where we charted a vision for the next five years of our school district.
- Inclusive policymaking with clear and honest communication.
- Balancing the needs of our students with the interests of teachers, administrators, and the community at large in a transparent and equitable way.
- Developing innovative community partnerships because our schools do more than just provide academics to our kids.
I am passionate about developing creative programs that can provide students with the choices they need for success. I am also focused on fiscal responsibility and sustainability.
I look up to Patrick Lucey (former governor of Wisconsin) because of his ability to work across different viewpoints to get things done. I am a pragmatist at heart.
The ability to listen to all sides objectively, and find common ground or compromise. And, integrity. The courage to say what you mean, and follow through with action that aligns with your values.
To communicate more than just the policies and decisions made, to listen, and when you do make a decision, to communicate the reasoning behind that decision. I also think that people on the school board have an obligation to find the voices that are not being heard at the board meetings. The people who may have to work, or those who are disengaged form the district.
I would like my kids to be proud of me.
To mediate the interests between all the stakeholders in our schools - students, teachers, administrators, and community members at large - in a fair and fiscally responsible way.
Everyone residing within the Verona Area School District.
By listening first. Too often leaders start with their own ideology. I would listen, and seek to understand. I would also work to find the people and perspectives that are not always present.
Again, starting with listening and learning, I would work to spend time at all our schools, as well as with local community groups. Specifically, I will work to build relationships between our schools and the people who are geographically removed from the center of our district. This is primarily the neighborhoods that border with Madison, and the rural areas, where students and families may not feel a connection with our schools. I will also look to reach out to form mutually beneficial relationships with local businesses and non-profits.
I do believe we need to recruit for all different forms of diversity as our kids will learn best when they get the broadest view of different people, backgrounds, and opinions. To achieve this I think we need to take a broad view of diversity when hiring. We also need to establish policies that support our faculty, staff, and administrations ability to be themselves.
Partisanship is the number one obstacle in my mind. We need education policy makers who can work past partisan talking points to find compromise. We need this both because we are a diverse district and only through compromise can we set an example that values everyone. Also, a lack of creativity. We need school board members who will ask tough questions and consider all sorts of various solutions in order to find the best solution. Too often board members are focused on what is allowed, or worse, what is easy, instead of what is possible.
Good teaching is engaging teaching. In addition to the more traditionally data driven metrics used by the district, we need to look to student feedback on their experiences. Not necessarily because they know what they want (thought hey often do), but because we need to see how they are engaged. We also need to give teachers the flexibility to teach each student.
We need to provide pathways for students who are aiming to the most competitive colleges, and well as those who seek to excel in the trades. One of the most important ways we do this is by celebrating success according to these different yardsticks. If students see the community celebrating their team winning state, but not the mass recognition of achievements in science, or arts, or the trades, then we are setting an example that only values one form of success. This will not work for every student to be successful.
I think we have done an excellent job of funding our facilities, we need to shift our focus to investing in our people.
Safety is fundamental to people maximizing their potential. It must be a cornerstone of what we do. But safety has different meanings to different people. We need to promulgate safety policies that provide safety, but not at the expense of threatening others. This all starts with a solid behavior education plan, which our district desperately needs. Safety is also built on a foundation of inclusion. We need our students to feel like they are a welcomed part of the community.
We need to invest in more people and training to meet the needs of students. We also need to be aware of the burden we place on teachers. We need not only councilors and social workers etc, but we need to give our teachers time and autonomy.
Having access to technology is crucial for developing twenty-first century literacies. But we also need to recognize that technology is not a device, but a way of thinking and interacting. We need to do more than give our students access to technology, we need them to think in technological ways.
At what point does a joke become a dad joke... When it is apparent.
The pandemic taught us the need for clear communication, and creative problem solving. Schools are about much more than the mass infusion of academic knowledge in kids. We need to be flexible enough to provide options to meet the various needs of different families during the pandemic. We also need to think of schooling in broader terms to recognize the many impacts our schools have beyond the academic - like the social and mental health aspects of schools. We have to be able to give people choices within the framework of what is safe for the larger body public. To do this we need to be attuned to peoples needs, and their worries. Too often decisions were made without parental or teacher input. Teachers needed a larger voice in how schools would be open, not to put the brakes on going back, but because they are best equipped to find creative solutions to get people who want to be back in limited and safe ways back.
I plan to create as many forums in addition to our meetings for families to tell me how the schools can meet their challenges. I will not only set. up listening sessions with local communities, but maintain a presence online.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2023 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on March 2, 2021
