JOHN OSTERMANN

NIAGARA, Wis. — John Ostermann is a candidate for the Niagara School Board in Tuesday’s spring election.

“I was born in San Francisco, California, where my dad passed away at a very young age and we moved to Norway, Michigan,” Ostermann said. “I went to Holy Spirit Central Catholic school in Norway in junior high and went on to Norway High School and graduated in 1978. I then attended college at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, where I attained a vocational education teaching degree and played five years of college football for the Wildcats.”

Ostermann’s teaching career has mainly consisted of automotive technology, woodworking, building trades, and welding.

“Many of my students went on to participate in Skills USA activities and performed very well in the state of Wisconsin. That will be my main priority in my position as a school board member. I am also going to focus on school security and all the unfortunate new problems that go along with that.

“My coaching career was successful thanks mainly in part to the amazing players that I had and assistant coaches that helped me compile almost 300 varsity wins in basketball and football. I’ve inspired and mentored many young coaches in the area that are successful and I’m very proud of that.

“I went into teaching and coaching as many as the amazing teachers and coaches helped fill the void of being a child from a single parent family. I felt like I needed to return the favor,” Ostermann said.

He has taught school for 31 years in five districts and coached in four of them.

“The schools varied from large to small, but all of them I would consider very good or above average districts. There is very little that I have not experienced in education over the years as a teacher, coach, or an administrator. I believe because of my rare combination of vocational education and coaching, I have not only made tremendous friendships with teachers, but some of my best friendships have come with members of the support staff, bus drivers, maintenance workers, and janitorial.

“While I don’t see any significant problems with the Niagara School District, I still feel I can give back or contribute to its continued success by using my expertise to focus on vocational education and careers as well as extracurricular activities athletics, etc.

“I moved to Niagara and started a business in January of 2003. Now 20 years later there are still some times where I don’t feel like I’m a part of the community or maybe a little bit of an outsider. I don’t feel like that would be a bad thing being a Niagara school board member. I don’t have any family that would benefit from me holding that position nor do I have any axes to grind so to speak. In closing, I just want to be as unbiased and as fair as I can possibly be when making decisions on everyone involved with the district and do what’s best for the children,” he said.