Incumbent Mark Ciota is focusing on creating tracks for different types of learners with his work on the school board.

Ciota, 50, is an orthopedic surgeon and the CEO of Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea and Austin. He is running for his second term on the school board.

Ciota and his wife, Allison, have two daughters: Alexandra is a second-year medical student at the University of Minnesota, and Morgan is a junior at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. Both of Ciota’s daughters went through the Albert Lea school system.

Some of Ciota’s hobbies include sports, running with his wife and visiting his daughters at their colleges.

Ciota hasn’t decided on the issue of the proposed calendar. He said he is still gathering information and can’t make a formal decision yet.

He is looking forward to the next two forums to learn what the community thinks. Ciota said he has been to businesses and homes to talk with people about the issue and he has returned all of the calls and emails he has received. Ciota said he is happy to continue doing that.

On the issue of recent staff changes in the district, Ciota said any change is difficult. He said he supported the decision to change staff and said good results have been shown because of it.

Ciota noted that all of the buildings have gotten better in regards to test scores, and Lakeview and Sibley elementary schools were designated Reward Schools for their achievement by the Minnesota Department of Education.

Another difficult change, Ciota mentioned, was the grade realignment that moved the sixth grade to Southwest Middle School and the eighth grade to Albert Lea High School.

While it was a difficult decision to make, Ciota said it was based on the reality that building space, teachers and resources were all limited. He said the realignment was necessary to move forward.

Although there was some pushback at the time, Ciota said things have worked out well and that he’s heard of no major problems. He attributed it to the plan being well-executed and that the administration worked to minimize those problems.

Although it isn’t an issue in the district right now, on the topic of early childhood education, Ciota said as much as the district can do and as early as it can be done in a child’s education is beneficial. He noted that preschool is the most critical time to teach students how to be good students later on in life.

Ciota is also concerned with continuing working on having different academic tracks for different types of learners. He’s interested in getting students work experience while they’re in high school, and teaching students how that will help them get them into a career.

He said the school needs to focus on fostering all students, whether they plan to go to college or not. For students who are not college-bound, Ciota said the school should still give them a direction.

Ciota said he is also interested in improving ACT scores for college-bound students, and said the state heading toward mandatory ACT testing will be something else to look at in the future.