March 29, 2017 – Slinger, WI – There will be a familiar face taking over as principal at Addison Elementary in the Slinger School District as Joel Dziedzic has been selected for the job.
Dziedzic, pronounced jay-jeets, is the principal at Kewaskum’s Charter School and a part-time principal at Kewaskum High School. He will officially come before the Slinger School Board on April 17.
“Joel was a unanimous choice by a committee of 17 people,” said Slinger Superintendent Daren Sievers. “He has a warm personality and a relationship focus with his leadership and we really value that in Slinger.”
Sievers said he was also impressed with Dziedzic knowledge of technology. “We think he’ll bring a fresh perspective in that regard and it’ll be a great addition to our staff and technology in the classroom,” Sievers said.
Dziedzic will take over in Addison on July 1.
“He will be invited to meet the Addison staff for the first time on Monday, April 3 and then I’m going to take him on a driving tour of the district to meet all five principals and see all the buildings and be welcomed by our staff,” Sievers said.
Behind the scenes: Sievers said his interview with Dziedzic was memorable because it happened during the big Monday snowstorm where accidents shut down I-41 and Slinger High School was selected to serve as a safe space.
“As we were interviewing Joel and my phone blew up that Germantown was having early release,” said Sievers.
“I left the meeting, talked to the bus company and local law enforcement, learned about the accidents and decided rather than early release we’d just keep the kids safe at school.”
Sievers sent a note and a phone call to all parents in the district telling them the kids would be staying put.
“I had to duck out of Joel’s meeting and then interview him by phone, even though the entire committee said, ‘this is our guy,'” he said.
“So the only interview I missed, because of the snow storm, was the guy we chose.”
Below is a letter sent to parents from Slinger Superintendent Daren Sievers.
Dear Addison Parents-
It is with very mixed feelings that I am writing you today. First of all, in case you have not heard, I am sadly sharing the news that Mr. Larkin will be retiring at the end of the 2016-17 school year. He has worked with us as a highly valued principal for 20 years, and for the past 15 years has been the only principal Addison has known since we had the grand opening of this new school in 2001. We sincerely thank him for his efforts for the past two decades.
Knowing we have very big shoes to fill in trying to replace Mr. Larkin, we have been working diligently the past two months to find a strong principal for 2017-18 and beyond. We had a lot of interest in this position. 105 candidates applied. We brought in a pool of 16 candidates, narrowed the group to 6 high quality finalists who were interviewed by a team of 17 parents, teachers, and District administration.
I am excited to announce that the new principal of Addison Elementary is Joel Dziedzic (jay-jeets). Mr. Dziedzic had a successful tenure teaching in the Kewaskum School District and most recently had served in a dual role as an elementary principal and as an associate principal at the high school. We feel his kind personality and successful background will be exactly what we need to keep great things happening at Addison and uphold the Slinger standard. Mr. Dziedzic lives in Slinger and is also an Addison parent. We love that he values what we value in Slinger and chose to live here a few years ago before this opportunity came to him.
Please join me in giving Mr. Dziedzic a warm welcome and Mr. Larkin a heartfelt, good-bye. I feel we are well positioned to have a very smooth transition this summer and an exciting start to the 2017-18 school year.
As always, please call me with any questions or concern.
Sincerely-
Daren Sievers
Superintendent
