Woodburn Independent Online

GSD restructuring administrator duties

The school district continues to look for ways to save money in tough economic times

• By: Lindsay Keefer  
• Published: 3/2/2010 11:06:24 AM

GERVAIS — The Gervais School District plans to undergo some administrative changes, but is not swaying from last year’s pledge to save money.
 
Next year, Gervais High School Principal Mike Solem will be the only familiar school administrator, with the retirement of elementary school Principal Linda Warberg in June and the rearranging of the middle school principal position.
 
The district plans to increase Solem’s leadership to the neighboring middle school, which has been under the supervision of Principal Jon Zwemke for a year and a half.
 
“We are trying to retain just five administrators until we get out of this economic downturn,” said Superintendent Rick Hensel.
 
“To do that, we’re looking at reconfiguring schools in the district. There would only be two principals next year.”
 
Hensel said this new configuration wouldn’t be too much for a principal.
 
“We look at it this way: there are 571 kids total (in grades 6-12), so … the number of students being supervised is not all that many,” he said.
 
Zwemke has resigned from his position, effective at the Feb. 18 school board meeting, and will continue with the district for the remainder of the year as Title I coordinator.
 
“I have not decided where I will be next year,” Zwemke said, adding he would like to eventually become a superintendent in Oregon. “Gervais is a great school district; so naturally, I would be very happy to continue in my current position. That said, I always keep one eye open for the next opportunity to tackle a new challenge.”
 
Hensel said Zwemke wasn’t moved because of poor performance.
 
“There isn’t any one incident that he did, this was just a decision of what was best for the district,” he said. “It has more to do with his ability to do what he is doing now.
 
“He is an extremely intelligent person. He has the ability to see large complex systems more than anybody I’ve ever worked with.”
 
But Solem won’t take over at the middle school right away.
 
The district has brought back a former district principal out of retirement, David James, to be the interim principal of the middle school.
 
“He’s going to finish out the year with the middle school,” Hensel said.
 
Zwemke’s new job duties include managing federal programs, one of many positions that Warberg had tried to juggle after the district cut down to five administrative positions to save money last year.
 
Warberg also serves as the special services coordinator and the full-time principal of both Brooks and Eldriedge Elementary Schools.
 
“Trying to do this and be a full-time principal is just too much,” Hensel said.
 
Ann O’Connell, who is currently the director of special programs at Willamette Education Service District, has been hired by the district to start July 1 as the director of special services, special education and Title I coordinator, positions that have been held by Warberg.
 
The board approved the new hire at its Feb. 18 meeting.
 
The elementary school principal position still has to be filled, with Warberg’s impending retirement June 30. The application deadline is March 5 and the new principal is expected to be announced at the March 18 school board meeting.
 
“It will not be possible for one person, who would be new to the district, to assume all of the duties that Linda currently has,” Hensel said in a letter to staff and the community.
 
But the new elementary school principal might have more students to supervise than Warberg did starting in 2011.
 
To help relieve any demands on Solem to lead the middle and high schools, Hensel said the board is in discussions to move the fifth-grade modular buildings at the middle school to the elementary schools in summer 2011.
 
“This year, the majority of middle school students take classes at the high school or are being instructed by high school teachers at the middle school,” Hensel said in the letter.
 
“Having an administrator responsible for both buildings helps ensure that the schedules for both buildings are aligned.”
 
Another possibly controversial move is hiring a company to transport Pioneer School, a vacant district building outside of town, built in 1936, to Gervais to use as the district office.
 
“It sits out in the middle of some farm land, nothing is going on with it,” Hensel said.
“That wouldn’t happen this year or next year, but it’s something down the road, in the future, that we’re considering.”
 
He thinks this could be more controversial than the administrative changes.
 
“I think a lot of people would understand we should not just let a building sit empty,” he said.
 
“But I think the concern is … people are used to seeing that building in farmland and it’s being used somewhere else.”
 
He said the school board will discuss the administrative and building changes at its next board meeting, slated for 6 p.m. March 18.
 
The five administrative positions in the district, as of July 1, will be Hensel, the new elementary school principal, Solem, O’Connell and Sylvia Garcia, the director of specific programs, including English language learning.
 

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