Berndt moves into principal position in Birnamwood

Editor’s note: The Enterprise & News recently chatted with Randy Berndt, who has made the transition from dean of students to principal at Birnamwood Elementary and Middle School.

Q: What is your work/education background?
A: I earned my bachelor’s degree at UW-Madison in agricultural journalism. When I couldn’t find a writing job, I landed a job as an auto parts manager at Dobbe Motors, a Chevrolet dealership in Rosholt. I really didn’t know a hubcap from a gas cap, but I needed a job in the area as my fiancee was going to school at UW-Stevens Point.

After we got married, Jackie and I moved to Wittenberg where she started teaching in Birnamwood, and I went to work as an auto mechanic at Wittenberg Ford Mercury. I landed a reporting job at the Shawano Leader a couple of years later and stayed there until we had a child, and I began working as a stay-at-home dad.

My time as a stay-at-home dad lasted seven years, and during that time I served as program manager for Tigerton Main Street, a downtown revitalization effort. I also did some freelance writing and sold fine art photographs. When our daughter, Jenni, started school, I was hired as a long-term sub in Wittenberg. I enjoyed working with students who had disabilities and went back to school to get my teaching license.

I was hired by Marathon County Special Education and worked for 11 years in Rosholt as a middle/high school special education teacher. While in Rosholt, I earned my master’s degree at Montana State University in Bozeman, which is a great place to go to school.
I took a self-imposed sabbatical after the 2012-13 school year and started a fly fishing guide service in the U.P. I spent winters working as a long-term sub, first in Gresham and then in both Birnamwood and Wittenberg.
It didn’t take long to learn that spending weeks away from Jackie six months out of the year wasn’t exactly living the dream, so I took a full-time position as a special education teacher.

This year, I was named dean of students for both the Birnamwood and Wittenberg elementary/middle schools before being named principal in Birnamwood.

Q: Where are you from, and who makes up your family?
A: I am originally from Plymouth, Wisconsin. Jackie and I met at the Hancock Experimental Station where we both worked during the summer. I worked for a soils professor from Madison; she worked for the farm tending research plots. I like to say we were an experiment and still are after more than 30 years of marriage.

After Jackie earned her degree, we moved to Wittenberg where she has worked for the district her entire career, starting as a middle school teacher, teaching fourth grade, then second until moving into her current job as literacy coordinator. We have one daughter, Jenni, who is the band director in Auburndale. Jenni is married to Sam Nueske, who is a Wittenberg native (son of Bill and Kristy). Jenni and Sam have a son named Cameron, whom his grandparents spoil just because they can.

Q: What’s your basic philosophy for learning, and how does that apply to your new role as principal?
A: I love learning and have earned either a new degree or a new education license in every decade of my life since graduating high school. I have lost count of how many universities I have earned credits from, but I think it’s seven or eight.

That’s why it hurts me when a student says he or she doesn’t like school. Nothing makes me feel worse than a student who does not like to come to school. I take that personally. Thus, my goal is to create a learning environment that students want to be a part of and want to be present for. As principal, I also have to make sure I create an environment where my staff feels comfortable and wants to come to school every day.

Q: Who or what was the inspiration for you becoming a principal?
A: I never intended to be a teacher, much less an administrator, so that’s a hard question to answer. I think the easiest way to answer it is with a story.

I had been teaching for two days when I met Tom (not his real name). I was walking down the hall when I saw a kid kick a hacky sack up through a ceiling tile. I asked the student to accompany me to the office. Tom replied with words I can’t use in a newspaper. I had no idea who the student was so, not wanting to elevate the situation, gently tugged on the student’s shirt and said, “Come with me.”

Tom complied but had a plan. By the time we had reached the office 20 yards away to speak with the principal, Tom’s story was that I had ripped his shirt as I drug him down the hall. Two days into teaching, I had learned a lesson: Never, ever touch a student. As I waited to be fired, the ultimate twist of fate occurred. The school psychologist called to inform him that Tom had been referred for special education.

During the next two years, without knowing, Tom taught me more about education than any course ever had. He taught me to compromise. He taught me to give up some of my power and control to students in order to help them succeed. He taught me that students don’t care about how much you know until they know you care about them. He taught me that students must see the value in the work in order for them to want to do it. In short, Tom had taught me my core beliefs about teaching.

A few years after Tom and I parted ways, I got an invitation to his wedding. At the reception, he thanked me for all I had done for him. I returned the thank you and ignored the puzzled look on his face. There have been many students who have benefited from Tom’s teaching and, ultimately, I believe there are many students who have benefited from mine. I never intended to be a teacher or a principal, and now I can’t imagine not being in the field of education.

Certainly there are many challenges, but knowing you can have a positive affect in the lives of children is a powerful position to be in.