Krizan stays on as district superintendent

Board members concerned about voting on title change prior to evaluation
By: 
Lee Pulaski
City Editor

Kurt Krizan will no longer have “interim” in front of his title as the Shawano School Board voted Jan. 16 to make him the permanent superintendent.

Krizan has been leading the district on a probationary basis since September in the wake of the departure of Randi Anderson, with the board wanting to keep someone familiar with the district in charge while it figured its next steps to permanently rebuild its leadership. Prior to taking the reins, Krizan was the director of personalized learning for the district.

After the meeting, Krizan said he’s pleased that, now that his position is stable, he can work on leading the district into the future.

“I’m excited for our staff, our students and our community,” Krizan said. “I’m very pleased that the board showed the amount of support that they did, and that we can do great things here.”

Krizan did not have specifics on what the “great things” were but said that they would be geared toward providing the best learning environment for students. “We’re preparing those kids for whatever the future holds for them,” he said.

The vote was far from unanimous, however, because some board members said they were concerned about the vote taking place before any kind of evaluation has been conducted. The agenda for the Jan. 16 meeting listed a closed session that was specifically called for Krizan’s evaluation at the end of the meeting, but the vote for what was listed as a “revision” to an administrator’s contract was listed in the middle of the agenda.

Initially, a motion was made to postpone the vote on Krizan’s contract change until February, after the closed session evaluation, but the board was deadlocked 4-4, with Bobbi Lemerond, Al Pyatskowit, Mart Grams and Sam Sousek voting in favor, and Mike Musolff, Alysia Pillsbury, Jeana Winslow and John Arens voting against. Karen Smith was absent.

A second motion, which changed the contract, passed by a 5-3 vote, with Pyatskowit voting with Musolff and company on the change.

Lemerond, who made the motion to table, said she liked Krizan and his leadership, but the procedure did not seem correct.

“This is nothing personal against you,” Lemerond said. “I’d prefer to wait a month until after the evaluation and then take ‘interim’ off (Krizan’s title).”

Grams said he has not seen much improvement in morale since Krizan became superintendent.

“They say, ‘Nothing has gotten better. Kurt’s just a nicer guy,’” Grams said. “They say you’re a nicer guy, but the people under are eating us alive.”

Pillsbury pointed out that the district’s situation is going to take more than a few months to overcome.

“We have a mountain to climb. I know culture does not change overnight,” Pillsbury said. “I’m going to offer a vote of confidence.”

Pillsbury also questioned why the board could not simply vote on the contract change right after the closed session evaluation.

Krizan noted that a number of superintendent positions had opened up in January in the state, so a vote now would be appropriate to give staff an indication that the district has stable leadership at the top.

“There are some things also from a staff perspective, such as where we are going,” Krizan said. “We have a bus contract that we’re going to be negotiating. We have a possible referendum. The bus company wants to talk to the person who will be in the position July 1.”

Aside from the title change, Krizan’s contract remains the same. The contract expires June 30, so the board will need to vote on a new contract at a later date.


lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com