By Thomas J. McKillen
Managing Editor

A career in education was not the first choice for new Germantown School District Superintendent Susan Borden, but a chance encounter in college led her in that direction.
During an interview last week, Borden explained that she was a business major at UW-Oshkosh and was planning for a career on Wall Street. During her sophomore year, Borden was in an dormitory elevator when another resident got on and was “gushing” about the kids in the class where she was teaching.
“I just about lost it in tears and thought: ‘What am I doing in accounting and business?’ Why am I looking at finance as a career,” Borden said.
She subsequently went home and announced her change in majors.
Borden’s first teaching was in Chiba, Japan teaching in high school while also performing work in an administration setting. After serving as a substitute teacher back in the states, she worked in the corporate office of Oshkosh B’Gosh.
Borden returned to teaching  in the Menasha School District. During her time as a classroom teacher she was encouraged by Phil Ertl — now the superintendent of the Wauwatosa School District — to consider pursuing a path in administration.
Borden served as an associate principal at Franklin High School before moving to the principal post at Mill Valley Elementary in the Muskego-Norway School District. 
Borden is married to Germantown Police Officer Ray Borden and they reside in a nearby community. Borden noted that she attended open house events at the Police Department and community events such as Mai Fest.
“It seemed like a good natural fit, like I knew the people, I knew the community,” Borden said of Germantown.
Borden started as Germantown School District superintendent July 1. The first task was learning as many details about the district and the community as possible.
“It’s going be that way for the whole year — learning the history and learning the policy. Policy in each district is very similar but it’s distinctively different,” Borden said.
Developing a district strategic plan is at the top of a list of items to do. In addition, organizing a “to do” list for this year until the strategic plan is in place is another task facing the district.
Borden’s past experience has provided here opportunities to work at the district level, including being involved in bargaining while serving as an assistant principal in Franklin.
While Borden conceded that providing education under the current state funding formula is a challenge, she noted another is communicating with the public “how much we do and how well we do it.”
“The funding in the state formula is one aspect of it but the community support of what you’re doing is such another big piece,” Borden said.
She added that there is an opportunity in the current climate to examine “and be really focused on what’s important for kids, and how do we provide that in the most fiscally responsible (and) fiscally accountable way.”
While Borden’s first day on the job have been “fluid” with different tasks, she noted she brings the same approach to her new role every day.
“Everything you do has to be in the best interests of students, everything you do has to be thinking about the professional reputation of the district and putting out there our best food — whether it’s our relationship with the village or our relationship with our churches  or our relationships with area businesses,” Borden said.
She then added: “You’re always thinking about those couple of key things: Putting students first. Safety, security, being fiscally responsible, developing those people and partnerships — you’re always thinking about those key top ten list of things you’re focused on.”