New Superintendent Heilmann news

From the Oshkosh Northwestern newspaper

Heilmann: Departure for Eau Claire schools comes with 'definite mixed emotions'
BY AMANDA M. WIMMER
of The Northwestern

Oshkosh schools Superintendent Ron Heilmann will leave the district to take the top post in the Eau Claire public schools.

Heilmann on Wednesday said he has tentatively accepted the position although a contract has not yet been signed.

“It comes with definite mixed emotions,” said Heilmann. “You don’t spend ten years as part of a community and not become vested in that community. It’s bitter-sweet-type of feeling.”

Michael O’Brien, president of the Eau Claire Area School District Board, said his board saw that Heilmann was fit for the job because of his experience. When Eau Claire school board members did Oshkosh site visits, they were impressed with the programs that Heilmann helped develop with the limited funding available, O’Brien said.

"With his personality and what he has demonstrated in the school district, Heilmann will come to Eau Claire, get the community energized, help us move forward in education and get our community to better recognize that quality education is an important aspect for our community," O’Brien said.

Heilmann was hired in Oshkosh in 1998 after five years as superintendent in Danbury, Texas. He is originally from Milwaukee and was a teacher and coach at Wild Rose High School before moving to Texas in 1981.

Eau Claire’s superintendent position has been vacant since July 2007. Heilmann said he doesn’t anticipate leaving Oshkosh for Eau Claire until mid-summer.

The announcement that Heilmann will take the Eau Claire position comes just one week after the Oshkosh school board approved the first phase of a multi-year facilities plan that will ask taxpayers to approve $26 million in construction and spending referendums in February 2009.

“I think we’ve got the framework for the plan in place,” Heilmann said. “I feel very good about the process so far, the steps we’ve put into place and I really look forward to working for the remainder of the time I’m here to move the process forward.”

Board member Karen Bowen, who is serving her fourth term on the Oshkosh school board and was a member of the board that hired Heilmann, said she feels this is a good move for Heilmann but not a good move for the Oshkosh school district.

“One of the eye openers for me was when the Eau Claire people interviewed us last week. They kept pointing to our (high) test scores and there were amazed with what we have done to bring up test scores with declining enrollment, a dwindling budget and a small number of administrators,” Bowen said.

Representatives of the Eau Claire school board met last week in closed session with the full Oshkosh school board to discuss Heilmann’s performance as Oshkosh superintendent.

Heilmann first notified the Oshkosh school board in mid-February that he was one of two finalists for the position. In early March, he visited the Eau Claire district for a series of interviews and community meetings.

Board members said they learned Wednesday morning that the Eau Claire board had made Heilmann a job offer.

Board president Dennis Kavanaugh said the school board would sit down and organize a search for a new superinten¬dent, which would include a search committee comprising of a broad group of community members. The school board will meet again on April 9.

"We will make every effort to get an organizational process moving as quickly as possible," he said.

Kavanaugh said he wishes Heilmann well.

"He has provided a good service to the community and our schools are staying strong," he said. "I think he has been a real asset to the Oshkosh schools."

Board member Dan Becker said he hasn’t had much time to process what’s happening and thinks the next couple of weeks will be a little rocky. Adding to the uncertainty, he said, is the announcement coming so soon after the board narrowly signed off on holding the February referendums.

“I think the board needs to discuss what impact his departure will have in terms of how we proceed in terms of a referendum and the facilities planning process,” Becker said.

Board member Tom McDermott said he will remember Heilmann for being focused on keeping students first in Oshkosh.

“He’s always been a champion for students at-risk,” McDermott said.

However, McDermott said, change isn’t always a bad thing.

“I think it sometimes provides us with an opportunity for a new perspective. I’m hoping that we can make something positive happen out of this,” he said.

Heilmann said the Eau Claire and Oshkosh communities are more similar than they are different, which is one of the things that made the job so appealing to him.

“I found my skill set matches real well to the needs the Eau Claire community has,” he said. “I do feel very connected to the Oshkosh community. As the process has unfolded it’s been very emotional to look down the road and realize something I’ve invested ten years of my life in is coming to a close.”

Heilmann also serves on the Grand Opera House board, the Oshkosh Public Library board and is a member of the Oshkosh Downtown Rotary Club and Partners in Education.