‘I wanted to make an impact’

Jeff Kondrakiewicz started his career in education as a teenager. He just didn’t know it.

The Cedar Grove-Belgium Elementary School principal was teaching swim lessons at Wirth Park just down the street from his home in Brookfield. He worked his way up to certified lifeguard and, after graduating from Brookfield Central High School, headed to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for pre-engineering.

Kondrakiewicz switched quickly to design an educational journey instead.

“I wanted to work with kids,” he said. “I wanted to make an impact.”

That he has.

Kondrakiewicz is one of 15 principals in the state to receive a Kohl Principal Leadership award for “setting high standards for instruction, achievement and character while fostering a positive and impactful school environment,” according to a Herb Kohl Educational Foundation release. The school and principal each receive $6,000 for the award.

Reading specialist Mary Claerbaut nominated Kondrakiewicz for the honor.

“His steady, compassionate leadership has profoundly shaped the Cedar Grove-Belgium school community,” she wrote. “Jeff’s passion for excellence makes our staff proud to serve alongside him and we’re fortunate to be led by such an exceptional principal.”

His inspiration to enter education wasn’t from his parents. His mother was an emergency room nurse and his father was in sales.

Kondrakiewicz’s path entailed earning a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

He started teaching in Merton, a feeder school for Arrowhead High School. He found working with younger students is more fun, but Kondrakiewicz had his sights set higher.

“I knew what good I could do in the classroom. I knew I could be a positive force for a whole school,” he said.

He went back to UW-Madison to earn a master’s degree in educational leadership, landed the principal job at Cedar Grove-Belgium Elementary School in 2015 and went to work on his vision.

“I want to make school a positive place for teachers to be and for students to learn,” he said.

One of his goals is to increase the percentage of time teachers get to teach.

“Everything else I try to take off their plate,” Kondrakiewicz said.

That could involve student discipline or other matters. “Whatever I can do,” he said.

Kondrakiewicz also wants to be visible, and he often drops into classrooms.

“My presence in the classroom is not unusual. That’s good for kids, but that’s also good for teachers,” he said. “I know what’s going on.”

Kondrakiewicz loved the suburban setting of Merton and has come to appreciate the more intimate environment in Cedar Grove, where “everybody knows everybody.”

That can make handling situations easier in a school of 320 students.

“There can be that close connection. Parents can go from teachers to me. It’s a close web,” he said.

The school and district have received top-notch state report card scores and ranked high in staff engagement, two large points of pride for the district.

Kondrakiewicz chalks up his success to those around him.

“I’ve been allowed to be the leader I want to because of all the people I work with. It sounds cliché but it’s true,” he said. “The people I work with allow me to be the best version of me.”

Kondrakiewciz is especially proud of his staff’s ability to adjust to new curriculum or new legislation such as Act 20, requiring science-based early reading instruction.

“I think we all weather change very well. I feel like anything that gets thrown at us as a team we pull together and do what’s best for kids,” he said.

Kondrakiewicz lives in Slinger with his wife and two teenage children. The family enjoys water sports and golf.