Richfield School Board Candidate Peter Toensing: 'We've Done a Lot of Good Things'

Editor's Note: With 15 residents vying for just three open seats on the Richfield Public School District School Board, Patch will be featuring individual Q&As with the candidates before the Nov. 8, 2011 election.

Peter Toensing has lived in Richfield for 15 years. His wife Kari was born and raised in Richfield and graduated from in 1988. Toensing is a primary care physician for adults and children and practices in Eagan. His four children all currently attend Richfield public schools; two are enrolled at the , one attends the and one currently attends . He is finishing his first term on the Richfield School Board and is running for re-election in November.

Richfield Patch: Why did you decide to run for the Richfield School Board again?

Peter Toensing: My primary motivation is that I think we’ve done a lot of good things, building some positive momentum [and] seeing some good measurable results. I want to continue to help sustain that momentum and growth for the district. Knowing there are some significant challenges we face going forward is also a big motivator.

Richfield Patch: What do you see as your particular qualifications to serve on the Richfield School Board? What would you most like residents to know about you as they go to the polls?

Toensing: Prior to being on the [Richfield School] Board, I served for three years on the [Richfield Public] School District's fiscal planning advisory committee. That certainly was an excellent introduction to the financing and budgeting side of things.

I also have a fair amount of experience in governance in other settings. I've been on the Board of Trustees for Fairview Ridges Hospital for the last two years and I've also on the Physician Governance Council (part of the Fairview Medical Group), so I have a fair amount of experience with governance in both medicine and government that gives me an understanding of how to be a board member, how to work effectively with administrative leadership to be collaborative and get things accomplished. Those experiences have been the most formative things for me.

Richfield Patch: What do you anticipate will be the big issues facing the Richfield School Board over the next few years?

Toensing: Obviously our top issue is budgetary. We certainly need to get this referendum passed. Failing to pass the referendum would result in some pretty significant cuts to our staffing that would have an impact on the education product we can offer.

I think the challenge for the next board is going to be to continue to take some critical looks at how we're budgeting and how our costs are structured. The new board coming in is going to have to be making judgments—are we getting good value on how our dollars are spent?

In the next two years there will be more expiring referendum levies that we’ll need to make a decision about. I think we always need to be certain that, before we talk about getting more revenue, we think that our expense side is appropriate to getting the best value. I don’t think that means that you go to the lowest possible cost when trying to balance cost and quality, but really critically look that dollars are being invested wisely and prudently. We’re going to have to keep on our toes about that.

Richfield Patch: Anything aside from finances you think the next board will need to address?

Toensing: We will have some challenges around maintaining a pace of positive cultural change within the district, and there's a lot of things about our organizational culture that I’m really proud of. We do a good job of celebrating our diverse population, we do a good job of working to meet the individual needs of each student, we do a good job of holding individuals within the district accountable for their performance within their positions. We’ll have to continue to sustain that culture within budgetary pressures.

The board leads in terms of setting the tone, and I think that will be an important task for the next board as well.