Clinton schools’ board member publishes debut article for Michigan Association of School Boards

Longtime Clinton Community Schools Board of Education member Dale Wingerd (center) holds up a copy of his debut article for the Michigan Association of Schools Boards. With him is Superintendent Kevin Beazley (I) and board president Kelly Schmidt.

By BRAD HEINEMAN

Clinton Local

It’s all about education and the joys of learning for Dale Wingerd.

“Continued learning is really what the school of life is all about,” Wingerd, a near two-decade member on the Clinton Community Schools Board of Education, said the day after returning from an education conference in Cape Cod and within the Massachusetts Commonwealth.

In the more recent months, Wingerd — while serving on the Clinton school board as its secretary — also assumed responsibilities as president of the Michigan Association of School Boards (MASB) during a mid-July leadership ceremony and dinner. It is a role he will hold for a one-year term before passing on the presidency to Pamela Dickinson, president-elect from Comstock Public Schools, who will become the MASB’s new leader for 2026-27.

Since that time, his appointment as president of the state’s voluntary, nonprofit association of local and intermediate boards of education throughout Michigan, has allowed him to learn even more about how school districts across the state are educating their students and staff.

One such area Wingerd said he finds captivating is learning about the ever-changing and ever-evolving use of artificial intelligence (AI) in schools. In fact, his debut article as MASB president details the landscape of education and how it has changed because of AI and innovation.

Wingerd’s article, titled “A New Era for School Boards,” was published in the Fall 2025 publication of the “Leaderboard” magazine, MASB’s flagship print publication that is distributed to more than 5,000 school board members, superintendents, businesses, legislators and other education stakeholders three times a year (January, May and September). “Leaderboard” holds the distinction of being the only Michigan-specific print publication for school board members with articles “that take a comprehensive and in-depth look at stories that matter most to our audience,” according to the MASB and its website, masb.org.

In December, Wingerd will submit his second article as MASB president for the January 2026 issue of “Leaderboard.” A topic or title for that article has not been brainstormed yet, Wingerd said. The MASB’s board of directors pitch article ideas for the association president to write about and to submit for publication in the magazine.

“School boards in today’s landscape need to be visionaries looking toward the future and prioritizing the innovation in which they can make their decisions,” Wingerd said.

While taking steps forward in education through innovation and the utilization of AI, ensuring the education’s quality is at the forefront of decision-making is paramount, Wingerd said. That’s also something he mentions in his MASB-published article.

“In today’s rapidly evolving educational landscape, innovation is no longer a luxury — it’s a necessity,” Wingerd says in the article. “School boards, long tasked with ensuring the quality and equity of public education, are now at the forefront of a transformational shift. By embracing new technologies, rethinking traditional practices and empowering educators, boards can reshape how students learn and how schools serve their communities.”

His article goes on to state that innovation isn’t only about the advancements in technology. School boards can also make an impact through progressive policies that prioritize mental health, equity and family engagement, he said.

Effective innovation, Wingerd adds, also means listening and engaging with teachers, students and families to identify what works and what doesn’t work.

“The most impactful school boards foster a culture where experimentation is encouraged and failure is seen as a step toward improvement — not an endpoint,” the article says. “Flexibility in governance allows boards to pilot new ideas and scale successful ones quickly.”

Wingerd’s advocacy work for wanting to better the learning opportunities for all students has not gone unnoticed at Clinton Community Schools, nor by the board of education, which recently presented him with a framed copy of his MASB-published article.

“From our local board to the state level, Dale consistently demonstrates vision, integrity and a relentless commitment to improving schools for every student. We truly value his perspective and service,” commented Clinton schools Superintendent Kevin Beazley.

Wingerd also represents Clinton on the Lenawee County Association of School Boards (LCASB), where he has held the offices of president, vice president and treasurer since 2006. In June, during the Lenawee Intermediate School District’s (LISD) biennial election, Wingerd was unanimously reelected to a six-year term after running unopposed. He is serving as the LISD board’s vice president/secretary through June 30, 2031.

Beyond his task of writing a handful of education-based articles, Wingerd said he will be kept busy attending conferences across the country in January, February and April on behalf of the MASB, which was officially organized in February 1949 to advance the quality of public education in the state, promote high standards in providing educational programs, help school board members keep informed about education issues, represent the interests of boards of education and promote public understanding about school boards and citizen involvement in schools.