August 7, 2013 at 5:31 p.m.
Losch excited to be back at charter schools
Losch excited to be back at charter schools
The School District of Rhinelander unanimously approved a one-year contract for Losch Monday evening in closed session, ending a brief search for a new person to helm the district's two charter schools - Northwoods Community Secondary School (NCSS) and the Northwoods Community Elementary School (NCES).
The two schools have been without an administrator since Jay Joppa resigned in June.
The position is a .5 position, split between NCSS and NCES. To fill the other .5 needed to make it a full-time position, Losch will also work as an advisor at NCSS.
"I'm extremely excited and eager to get started," he said Tuesday. "This is my first principalship so I'm certainly eager for the new opportunities for me to stretch myself as an educator, and to have that opportunity in the district I have been working in all of these years is even better. I'm excited to get back and see students in this setting. It's a part-time teaching and part-time principalship, so I feel pretty fortunate that I'll still have a foot in each world. I'm looking forward to the opportunities that will bring forth."
Losch has been teaching in the district for 13 years. He was one of the founding members of the charter schools and was an advisor at NCSS for eight years before moving to the middle school last year to teach seventh grade.
He said he will miss teaching at the middle school but is looking forward to heading back to the charters.
"I'm excited. There's certainly a level of comfort in knowing what I'm getting back into. But, I'm also going back in there knowing that some cultural shifts have taken place with the secondary charter moving last year. So, I'll still be going in with open eyes to observe and kind of relearn the culture," Losch said.
"There's a small part of me that is bummed out about leaving the middle school culture because that was a very positive place, but this seems like a pretty natural fit and a great opportunity."
Superintendent Kelli Jacobi recommended Losch based on his experience in helping form the two schools, including helping to write the initial charters. Both NCSS and NCES will need to rewrite their charters this year, something Losch said he is ready to tackle with the help of both governing councils and other stakeholders.
"It's really kind of the founding document of a charter school. The life cycle tends to be either three or five years depending on the agreement - most of the ones I've seen tend to be five years. It's an agreement between the two governing councils and the school board. It sets the framework for what will take place for the next five years," Losch said.
"It's a very important document. It's certainly not something I'm going to write by myself. It's something that I'll have the input of a lot of stakeholders, so I'm looking forward to facilitating that process in creating that and making sure it fits in with the broader plans of the district as well."
School Board President Ron Counter also spoke highly of Losch's experience when asked why the board got behind the hiring.
"Wil was in on the two charters from the very start. He brings great experience plus knowledge of the programs and we think he'll be a good fit," Counter said.
Losch started his new job Tuesday.
Cheslock also approved
In other business Monday, the board officially approved new Community Education Coordinator Mike Cheslock with a unanimous vote.
Cheslock takes over for Kim Swisher who resigned in June to take a position with the Lac Du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa as a communications coordinator. He was hired pending board approval last month.
"He's got experience as a program director at the YMCA (of the Northwoods). He's got formal education in marketing and that sort of thing. Plus, on top of all that, he brings the unique quality of being a classroom teacher as well," Counter said.
Marcus Nesemann may be reached at [email protected].
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