by Logan Gruber
Dr. Daniel Bittman seems to be the beating heart of the Sauk Rapids-Rice school district. From the moment he interviewed to be the superintendent, he showed himself to be a great leader.
“I was serving on the Sauk Rapids-Rice School Board when we hired Dan,” school board chair Mark Hauck said in a Sauk Rapids-Rice Newsleader interview. “He was a young candidate and had small children. Though his answers to our interview questions were excellent, it was the question which Dan asked the board that was the most memorable. He asked each board member what makes Sauk Rapids and Rice great places to live. He was interviewing us and deciding if he wanted this to be the community to bring his family. We are so fortunate he agreed with us and saw the community as a great place to raise a family.”
And now he is being recognized by the Minnesota Association of School Administrators as the Superintendent of the Year. As the Minnesota honoree, Bittman is a candidate among other state winners for National Superintendent of the Year, to be announced during the American Association of School Administrators’ Convention to be held Feb. 11-13.
“I’ve been really humbled by the recent recognition,” Bittman said in a Sauk Rapids-Rice Newsleader interview. “I’m really proud to serve with so many great people in Sauk Rapids-Rice . . . the district and community are full of amazing people who want to do really good things for kids every day.”
Personal Life
“I’m not sure how, but Dan finds time in the day to be a dad, husband, community leader and a cheerleader for the Sauk Rapids-Rice school district,” Hauck said. “I’m not sure when he sleeps.”
Bittman and his wife Julia have three children together: Madeline, 13, Kaytlin, 11 and Aric, 8. The children all attend school within the district.
Julie grew up in Chisago City, Minn., while Bittman grew up in Fridley, Minn.
Bittman’s mother was a special-education teacher.
“From early on I had the opportunity to learn from [my mother] . . . to work with kids and programming in school,” Bittman said.
He attended Totino-Grace High School, earned his bachelor’s degree in Spanish, psychology and athletic coaching at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and earned his master’s degree and doctorate in educational leadership and higher education at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
In between his time in Duluth and Las Vegas, Bittman taught Spanish in Rosemount-Apple Valley schools. He also coached football, basketball and baseball.
“The majority of my coaching was at the high-school level, though as a young man in high school I was involved in coaching younger kids and volunteering in summer recreation,” he said.
Bittman spent 11 years in Las Vegas, as he wasn’t only working on his own education, he was also teaching and working as an administrator.
“Quite honestly I got tired of the winters here,” Bittman said with a laugh. “I knew if I was going to go somewhere warmer I needed to do it while I was young.”
Clark County, Nevada happened to be hiring, and he knew he could obtain his degrees at the university in Las Vegas.
“I feel really fortunate to have spent time in Clark County,” Bittman said.
He explained Clark County is the fifth largest school district in the county, with more than 300,000 students and more than 30,000 employees. He said during the 11 years he spent there they opened 12 to 15 schools every year, hired 3,400 teachers every year and gained 13,000-15,000 students every year.
The Sauk Rapids-Rice school district serves approximately 4,300 children while employing nearly 600 staff members.
Bittman was the director of elementary for licensed personnel, which meant he oversaw parts of 186 different elementary schools in the district.
“If I would’ve went to one of my schools every day of the school year, I still wouldn’t have gotten to all of my schools,” Bittman joked.
Clark County was 52 percent minority at the time Bittman was there. He said hundreds of languages were spoken across the district.
“I believe in learning from other people and cultures and think we are better as a district and community when we can embrace diversity and learn from each other,” he stated. “Clark has shaped me, fueled my passion to provide opportunities to students, to learn from and with other cultures. It takes more intentionality to do so here because of the lack of diversity . . . ‘the world is bigger than Sauk Rapids-Rice,’ I always say.”
“As a teacher and administrator, there’s not a lot of new experiences in central Minnesota that I wasn’t part of or at least aware of in Clark County . . . I feel fortunate to have had these experiences.”
School district
Sauk Rapids-Rice High School Principal Erich Martens has worked with Bittman for six years here, and has been principal for 12 years.
“Our previous superintendent was Greg Vandal, also a Superintendent of the Year for Sauk Rapids-Rice. Each of them were incredibly dedicated and each of them placed a major focus on developing a positive and supportive relationship with our communities,” Martens said in a Sauk Rapids-Rice Newsleader interview. “Vandal was instrumental in restoring faith in our school system and activated the community to support significant facility improvements including the building of Mississippi Heights and Sauk Rapids-Rice High School. Bittman’s initial challenges included organizing and training staff to improve student performance across the district and also to get the district back on its feet financially following the budgetary challenges of 2007-09.”
“I have always appreciated the time Dr. Bittman shares with me in individual conversations,” Martens added. “He has a great ability to always listen first, ask questions, and then offer support and advice. I learn each day in working with Dr. Bittman and feel incredibly fortunate to work with and for him.”
Bittman started at the district in 2010. His initial goals were to invest in access and opportunity for every child in the district by the following: reducing fees for activities and athletics; reducing the supplies needing to be brought from home; and increasing access through technology.
“Bittman’s number-one priority is to provide all students in Sauk Rapids-Rice with the same opportunities and access to a quality education,” Martens said.
ACT scores and AP test taking have also risen under Bittman.
“Dr. Bittman has been an amazing force in raising the level of performance throughout our district,” Martens said. “Because of his leadership, our students and staff are performing better, our community is more engaged and supportive of our schools, our programming is stronger for all students, and we are clearly focused on providing access and opportunities for all students in our district.”
According to a college readiness letter from the ACT, Sauk Rapids-Rice students outperform other students in the state by at least half of a percentage point across the four ACT tests: English, mathematics, reading and science.
The advanced-placement program has seen an uptick as well; 208 more advanced-placement exams were taken in the school district in 2014-15 than in 2013-14.
“From last year to this year we doubled the number of students taking advanced-placement exams,” Bittman said. “That’s impressive and that’s because of the good work of our teachers and staff . . . these opportunities give students a leg-up and often they receive college credit which saves their family money.”
Another task Bittman and the school board will be undertaking is a facility study. An architect was hired in January, but the board is planning ahead and wants the community involved. For more information on the study and how to get involved, see related story in this week’s paper.