Popp named new Granton school administrator
The Granton Area School District has found someone to take the helm after this school year. Nancy Popp recently accepted the district administrator position at Granton. Popp is currently serving as the Loyal School District elementary principal.
“On behalf of the Board of Education, we want to wish Mrs. Popp congratulations and best wishes on her new endeavor,” an announcement on the Loyal School District website stated.
With Popp’s departure, the Loyal School Board decided to reassign current Middle/High School Principal Doug Dieckman as the 4K-12 principal and will seek to hire an assistant principal for the 4K-12 building.
Popp interviewed in April and was offered the job. She will finish summer school with Loyal and start her new position in Granton effective July 1.
“We’re delighted to have Mrs. Popp join the Granton school family,” said Granton School Board president Theresa Hasz. “She has experience in leadership and we’re looking forward to having her as part of the team. We had a good pool of candidates, but she definitely came out on top.”
Although she will be new to the Granton school, Popp is no stranger to the education world, having worked in a school setting for almost 30 years.
Popp earned her associate’s degree from the Richland Center two-year UW campus and her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from UW-Platteville. After graduating from college, she spent about five years long-term subbing and also went back to school to get her certification to teach high school English.
Popp has worked for the Loyal School District for the last 24 years. Initially she was hired to teach middle school applied language and some high school courses. Eventually, she transitioned to teaching all high school English courses. She was a longtime Forensics advisor and also helped with one-act plays frequently over the years.
The last five years, Popp has served as the Loyal Elementary School principal. For two of those years, she split her time between teaching English and serving as principal, and the last three years she’s been solely the principal.
When she entered the education field, Popp didn’t necessarily anticipate becoming a principal, much less a district administrator, but came to appreciate the opportunity to take on a leadership role within the school.
“You get to the point where you’re ready to try something different and look at experiences from a different perspective,” said Popp. “I still miss getting to connect with students in the classroom, as I love those connections with students. But, I am helping the staff get the things they need.”
In order to become a principal, Popp had to earn her master’s degree in educational leadership, which she received from Cardinal Stritch University in Fox Point. Two years ago, she earned her educational specialist (EdS) degree from UW-Superior, qualifying her to become a district administrator.
Popp was spurred on to get her EdS degree after then District Administrator Cale Jackson resigned in 2019. At that time, Chris Lindner was the 7-12 grade principal. “When Mr. Jackson left, both Mr. Lindner and I did coursework to get ready because, at that time, we didn’t know if we would be able to find someone else to fill that spot,” said Popp. While the school district ended up hiring Mark Lacke and later Lindner as the district administrator, Popp did not complete her coursework in vain. “In February I saw that the Granton position came open. I thought, ‘Maybe it’s time to spread my wings and see how this works. I know what the people are like; I know what the area is like,’” she said. That being said, “It’s going to be really hard leaving… I’m going to miss all the kids and the passion you see for education.” Over the years, Popp has enjoyed watching her students graduate and go off to do good things, and getting to continue a relationship with them by keeping up with their lives, including seeing some of their kids go to school in Loyal now.
She extended her sincere appreciation to the teachers, support staff members and school board members she’s worked with the last 24 years.
Now, she is aiming to finish well while anticipating what’s to come.
“I’m looking forward to learning about the community, building relationships with the staff and students, and helping Granton maintain its identity as a district. I want to find creative ways to maintain that identity and find new ways to draw people to Granton. They have a very good strategic plan, so I want to continue to build off that,” she said.
“I’m really excited about it. Granton has a lot of neat opportunities as a small school.”
Popp will take the place of Jim Kuchta, who is about to wrap up his third year at Granton school. He informed the school board in January that he did not intend to seek a contract beyond the 2022-23 school year.
