District expected to hire new leader

Saukville Elementary School Principal Chad Brakke was expected to accept a job offer to be superintendent of the Cedar Grove-Belgium School District this week.

A site visit with two School Board members and two principals was held on Tuesday, School Board President Chad Hoopman said.

An offer was extended to Brakke Tuesday night. The board prepared an offer last Friday in closed session, Hoopman said.

Three finalists had been identified from a pool of 26 applicants. Howards Grove High School Principal Scott Fritz and Deputy Director of the School District of Waukesha Joseph Koch, Ph.D., were the other two.

The superintendent position opened  after Jeanne Courneene retired in early fall due to family reasons.

Courneene, a former principal of the district’s middle school, was superintendent for five years. She spent 21 years in the district.

Claire Martin, a career educator who served as superintendent of the Chilton School District for nine years before retiring, is Cedar Grove-Belgium’s interim superintendent. She was not a candidate for the job.

The school board chose McPherson and Jacobson of Omaha, Neb., to lead the superintendent search. The district is paying the firm about $10,900.

The firm led the board in a process to identify the qualities it wants in its next leader and led similar sessions with staff, students and selected community members and leaders.

The superintendent starts work July 1, the first day of the district’s fiscal year.