Multiple schools in the Waukesha School District are welcoming new principals, and many have new teachers for the 2015-16 school year, which began Tuesday, Sept. 1.
Suzanne Polaske, in the district's Human Resources Department, said the district has hired 100 new teachers for the 2015-16 school year.
Superintendent Todd Gray said that, overall, there was a 10 percent turnover in staff, a percentage that is a little higher than usual.
New principals
The new elementary school principals include:
·Tina Koch, at Hawthorne STEM Elementary School — She was an associate principal at Wauwatosa East High School for the past year and also previously worked as a middle school teacher at Waukesha STEM Academy from 2010-14. Koch was also a fourth-grade teacher at Lowell Elementary for two years before that. She replaces Joe Russell, who had been the school's principal for six years.
·Mark Schneider, at Heyer Elementary School — He replaces Heidi Williams. Schneider was a principal with the Seeds of Health Elementary charter school in Milwaukee from 2011-15. Before that, he was the dean of students for four years at Tenor High School, another charter school that is part of Seeds of Health, in Milwaukee. Williams was the principal at Heyer for just one year.
·Dennis Griffin Jr., at Prairie Elementary School — He replaces Amy Riebel, who transferred to Lowell Elementary. Griffin was the principal last year of Cottage Grove School of the Monona Grove School District in Cottage Grove.
STEM reconfiguration
Waukesha STEM Academy has reconfigured its principal structure.
James Murray, entering his third year at Waukesha STEM, will now oversee both the elementary and middle schools.
Christina Sprader, who has been with the district since 2009, is the new associate principal of Waukesha STEM Academy Randall Campus (the elementary school). She will be stationed primarily at that school.
Sprader most recently served as an effectiveness coach at the Waukesha STEM Academy Saratoga Campus (the middle school) and previously was a teacher at the Randall Campus.
"I have learned a great deal from Mr. Murray's strong leadership and look forward to working with him to build continuity between the two campuses," Sprader said. "I am excited to re-energize the connection between Randall and Saratoga as we guide the understanding of our youngest learners to those ready to enter high school."
When the charter school opened in 2010, there was only one principal for both campuses. But in the second year, a second principal was added.
High school changes
Two of Waukesha's public high schools have new assistant principals.
Kristin Higgins is assistant principal at Waukesha North High School. Higgins, formerly a teacher at Templeton Middle School in the Hamilton School District, steps into a position previously held by Rebecca Newcomer.
Newcomer is North's new principal. She take over for Jody Landish, the district's new director of secondary (grades six through 12) instruction.
Laura Ryan, formerly a teacher at New Berlin Eisenhower, is the new assistant principal at Waukesha West High School. She replaces Steve Fisher, who is transferring within the district to become an assistant principal of Waukesha South High School.
La Casa switch
Meanwhile, La Casa de Esperanza, a Waukesha organization that just opened a charter school this week, has already had to replace its principal.
Carmen Brito, who was recently hired, stepped down just days before the charter school opened. That led Anselmo Villarreal, La Casa's president and chief executive officer, to name Kristy Casey as interim principal.
She was most recently acting chairwoman of the La Casa de Esperanza Charter School Board.
Casey has a bachelor's degree in elementary education and history from Elmhurst College in Illinois, a master's degree in educational leadership with an emphasis on charter school administration from Louis University.
Casey has seven years of teaching experience at the elementary school level and was a founding member of the Wauwatosa STEM Charter School. She most recently held the title of executive director of the Coalition for Wisconsin Charter Schools.
La Casa's charter school is not affiliated with the Waukesha School District.