DARLINGTON — Though Darlington School Board President Aaron Wolfe said he couldn’t speak to the variety of reasons the dissenting members likely voted not to renew Superintendent Denise Wellnitz’s contract set to expire in 2020, he said a desire for different leadership skills was the reason they could not wait a year to hire a new administrator.
Which is what the board did on June 24. There were three candidates for the position: Cale Jackson, Phillip Tubbs and Jeff Rykal. Jackson, who was ultimately hired for the position, was previously the Loyal School District administrator. Tubbs is a middle school principal for Tomorrow River Schools in Amherst and Rykal serves as the K-12 principal for Almond-Bancroft schools.
Wolfe said the board began with 11 candidates and interviewed six before choosing three finalists. He added that the board hopes to have the new superintendent begin in early July.
Board members voted April 15 not to renew Wellnitz’s contract, which is considered every two years. They reviewed her performance evaluation at the beginning of the year. The contract ends in June 2020. Judy Huntington, Theresa Siegenthaler, Joe Riechers and Wolfe voted against a motion not to renew the contract, but fellow members R.J. Brunkow, Matt Crist, Colleen Reichling, Joe Schilling and Nicholas Zuberbuhler agreed with the idea. The board voted 5-4 not to renew the contract.
On May 3, the board announced that Wellnitz had entered into an agreement with the district after announcing her retirement. In the agreement, obtained by the Times through a public records request, Wellnitz will be placed on a yearlong leave of absence, which began June 30 and will continue until the end of June 2020, when her contract expires.
As part of the agreement, Wellnitz will continue to receive her salary of roughly $5,000 in gross pay twice each month and will also continue to receive benefits. Unless she gains employment through a new position in the field of school administration, she will receive the pay and benefits coverage until the end of her contract.
Wolfe said Wellnitz has been the superintendent of Darlington for 10 years. He said over that time, there have been a number of changes to the school board membership, and with those new people, there are different viewpoints on how the district should be run.
There have been no disciplinary concerns, Wolfe said. And the reason for choosing a new person had little to do with after school practice schedules or how students are able to train during the unpredictable winter season and when snow days are determined, he added.
The board simply decided it wanted a change sooner than June 2020, Wolfe said.
They were not willing to wait and though “no one wants to be in this situation,” Wolfe said, board members were willing to essentially pay two salaries for one year to have someone with strong leadership skills. As part of his two year contract, Jackson will receive a gross annual salary of $127,000.
Wolfe said leadership qualities can greatly depend on the superintendent’s strengths and what they bring to the district, but he said the quality of being able to oversee employees effectively was what board members were most looking for in a new administrator.
Jackson is a native of Corpus Christi, Texas. He majored in business at Texas A&M University. He first began working in Wisconsin at Menards in Eau Claire. After five years there, he returned to college to obtain a bachelor’s degree in math education and went on to teach in Sparta for five years. He became an assistant principal in Tomah before becoming the superintendent at Loyal, where he has served for the last eight years. He will begin his duties as Darlington superintendent on July 15.
— Kayla Barnes contributed reporting.