By Miles Maguire
The school board voted unanimously Wednesday to back new Superintendent Bryan Davis’s controversial choice of a principal for Oshkosh’s planned “super middle school.”
The new principal will be Kristi Levy, currently the principal at Washington Elementary. She was picked over three other finalists, including two external candidates and Philip D. Marshall, principal of Webster Stanley Middle School.
Levy will start as principal at Merrill Middle, and her responsibilities will include gearing up for the district’s new $53 million middle school, which she will head once it opens in two years.
The new middle school is being called a “super” school because it will combine the enrollments of the existing Merrill and Webster Stanley middle schools.
About a dozen employees of the Oshkosh Area School District showed up at the Board of Education meeting to show their support for Marshall, and several of them spoke of his leadership and record of accomplishment.
Paula Averkamp, a teacher at Webster Stanley, urged the school board to look more closely at the hiring process. “Don’t feel pressured to approve an agenda item that deserves further investigation,” Averkamp said.
Tina Jeffrey, whose social media identifies her as a speech language pathologist with the school district, questioned why the board was appointing a leader for the new school instead of just filling the vacancy at Merrill.
She urged the board to table the decision “in order to give community members time to get informed and weigh in with their opinions.”
The process the school district is using “is detrimental to the trust of the community and most evidently to OASD members at all levels,” she said.
The new superintendent defended the hiring process, which he called “fair and consistent.”
He said he was impressed by Levy’s ideas for managing the transition from two schools to one.
Her plan was “exceptionally detailed and relied heavily on stakeholder input and relationship development as the path toward bringing the two school communities together.”
“This is a tough decision for me,” said board president Bob Poeschl.
But he said the board’s role is not to second-guess the superintendent’s recommendation for key staff.
“I have great trust in the integrity of Dr. Davis,” said Barbara Herzog, the board’s vice president. “When he has assured board members individually that this was a clean process, I believe him, and I support his recommendation.”
In its announcement, the school district gave this description of Levy:
“Levy currently serves as the principal of Washington Elementary School. She has experience at all three levels, having taught at Oshkosh North High School, South Park Middle School, and Oshkosh West High School. Levy graduated from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh with a bachelor of science in secondary education. She also obtained her masters in educational leadership and PK-12 principal licensure from UW-Oshkosh. Levy is currently pursuing a doctorate in leadership, learning and service from Cardinal Stritch University.”
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July 16, 2021 at 04:35PM
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Oshkosh board backs superintendent in choice of new 'super school' head - Oshkosh Examiner
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