Wisconsin Heights board takes initial steps in Superintendent search

The Wisconsin Heights School Board heard a presentation by Mike Richie from Hazard, Young, Attea Associates, the firm that will be helping them hire their new Superintendent at their meeting last Monday, September 25. Richie spoke at length about the basics of the upcoming Superintendent search, outlining certain aspects of the process. The conversation quickly turned to pay range, and understandably critical part of the search. Board President Barb Statz engaged with Richie on what would be a competitive salary for the Heights position, and a range of $140,000 to $160,000 a year came out of the very early discussions. Richie noted that Superintendent are among the highest paid professionals in small communities. Richie discussed things such as the number of candidates the firm will bring before the board—settling on the number five, speaking generally. He also laid out the schedule for the process, and it will look something like this:   October-November, 2023: Job listing posted Early December, 2023: candidates presented to board Mid-January, 2024: final interviews End of January, 2024: new superintendent announced July 1, 2024: Superintendent first day   The search process includes many opportunities for community input, with focus groups and stakeholder meetings. There will be a community-wide survey sent out, combining the District traditional School Perceptions survey with one for the Superintendent search. There have been a few changes to the Wisconsin Heights administrative staff this summer and fall. Scott Moore, former Elementary Principal, accepted a position with the River Valley School District in August. Dale Green stepped in and now serves as Elementary Principal. Cheryl Knowles, the Business Manager, also left this summer. The district hired a consultant and a someone from CESA to assist them with the business side of things and the budget. “When we hire our new Superintendent, we’ll be better situated to identify our needs as it relates to hiring [Knowles’] replacement and what that role will look like, explained Statz. Finally, Matt Greene retired at the last school year; the district internally promoted Kelly Santell to Director of Student Services. The board also approved two new Drama positions: a technical director, and musical choreographer/dance teacher. The funding request explained:   “There is no question that we currently have a professional-level technical director with us in Kyle Schaefer (Emma ‘21 and Cora ‘23). He is an indispensable volunteer, involved in every aspect of our program, from sound, to lights, to set design, and even construction. He sometimes spends his own money to help make our endeavors successful, as have many of the other adults involved. We could not have run the program without him these past two years. Kyle’s myriad skills are put to the test with the larger musical production and he excels orders of magnitude beyond what we can expect from a volunteer. Even so, his youngest child has now graduated from [the High School].”