Superintendent finalists visit Marathon
By Casey Krautkramer
Marathon School District’s top three superintendent candidates each had a a chance on Monday night to tell community members why they should be given the opportunity to guide the school district into the future.
The three finalists, Angela Woyak, Matthew Raduechel and Adam Jacobson, spent the day touring the district before speaking in the high school auditorium.
Retired Stratford School District superintendent Scott Winch, who now works for search firm Hazard, Young, Attea (HYA) Associates, was hired to help Marathon find its next superintendent to replace Rick Parks, who is retiring at the end of this school year after nearly 25 years in the district.
Winch introduced each of the top three candidates to the crowd of 22 people, which included school board members Jodi DeBroux, Lia Klumpyan and Paula Vesely. Marathon Police Chief Tyler Geske was there as a representative of the village.
District residents grabbed a flyer upon entering the auditorium that had a QR code on it next to each finalist’s photo, which allowed them to provide feedback to the school board after listening to the presentations. The board will conduct final interviews with the finalists on April 9, and will announce the candidate selected to serve as superintendent at the April 16 regular board meeting, with an anticipated start date of July 1.
Rib Lake native Angela Woyak was the first candidate scheduled to speak. She arrived early and walked around to greet each member of the audience before it was her time to speak.
Woyak has worked in school administration for 18 years, including stints in Medford and her hometown of Rib Lake before moving to Wyoming. She currently serves as Westside Elementary principal for the Park County School District in Powell, Wyo., where she has been for 11 years. She explained why she moved from Rib Lake to Wyoming.
“One day I received a call from a social worker saying you have a child in your school district that needs foster placement and we don’t have a home for him so could somebody on your staff help out. So, I called my husband and we decided that we could help out,” Woyak said. “Two years later, we ended up adopting him and decided that we needed to start a new chapter and give him a fresh start, and we moved to Wyoming and that’s where we’ve been. He has now graduated and is on to the University of Wyoming…I am now looking to fulfill some of those career goals that I’ve put on hold for a while for very good reason. He needed us and he was a priority.”
Parent Melanie Martin asked Woyak if the Marathon superintendent job would just be a stepping stone in her career, because Martin is hoping the new superintendent stays in the school district for a long time like Parks has.
“That’s a great question because you always want to look for someone that you know will remain as a member of your community,” Woyak said. “I haven’t moved around a lot. I am fairly career
See FINALISTS/ page 8
Angela Woyak
Matthew Raduechel
Adam Jacobson Finalists
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driven but within reason, but family comes first for me. I do value just becoming a part of the community. I don’t like moving around and I’m not looking to advance. My career goal is to lead and leverage at a system level but it’s not to advance to any larger school districts or anything of that nature. I value small towns.”
Parent Kristin Jacobson asked Woyak about her beliefs regarding teacher recruitment and retention.
“I think having a strong track record of high performing schools helps tremendously,” she said, noting that she worked to make Westside Elementary a National Blue Ribbon School while she was principal.
“New teachers want to be a part of something that is successful and new teachers want to be mentored. That is one thing that I’ve learned in hiring and interviewing processes. The first question they have for me is, how will you support my growth? How will you support my success? Because they are shopping around looking for the best fit. So they want those support programs in place and I make sure that we can deliver on those. Right now our school building is piloting a mentorship program for new teachers.”
Resident Dennis Cramer asked Woyak what she thought about student cell phone use in school.
“I feel like it has become a Pandora’s box that we are now trying to shut the lid on in schools,” she responded. “Unless it’s being used for a specific learning activity, I don’t feel that cell phones should be allowed in the classroom because it can be an enormous distraction. I ask kids in my school to turn them off and store them, and if I see them on the playground, they are mine for the day and they get returned to parents at the end of the day. Cell phones can be a tool but they are often used as a toy.”
Martin asked Woyak what her take is on enforcing student dress codes.
“I do enforce a dress code because I think it’s important first of all to have everybody show up in respectable clothing so that it doesn’t distract from what we are doing,” she said. “I also have a number of high school kids enter the elementary school as mentors in our Panther Pal program, and I tell them that they are in a role of respectability and leadership for young children so they need to adhere to our dress code.”
Finalist Matthew Raduechel is a native of Wausau who graduated from Wausau East High School. He taught physical education and health in the Wittenberg-Birnamwood School District before starting work in school administration at John Muir Middle School in Wausau. He is in his second school year of as Shawano High School principal.
Parent Luke Jacobson asked Raduechel how his personality would fit into Marathon’s community and school district.
“One of the things about me is I used to be a coach in all different forms, and one of the things that I really learned is that it is a process, especially during my time in the strength and conditioning realm, because I was no longer just a football or wrestling coach,” he said. “I needed to be a coach of all kids and of all athletes, so my perspective of that changed. It’s kind of formed my educational philosophy too about all kids and how we ensure that all kids are learning, whether they are special needs kids or kids who will become Division 1 college athletes. My educational philosophy looks at all students and how can we move them forward in whatever path they are on.”
Martin also asked Raduechel if the Marathon superintendent job would just be a career stepping stone for him.
“The best way that I’ve been able to address that concern is, from my perspective, I’m trying to do the best job that I can for as long as I possibly can. And the way that I explain it might raise some eyebrows like, ‘Is this guy just a bounder and is he going to go somewhere else?’ And that’s not necessarily what is meant by that. It’s just that we are going to do the best job we can for as long as we possibly can – if that’s 10 years or 15 years – but we all know those variables change in the future because our district might look different in three years or five years from now.”
Current district employee Adam Jacobson was the last candidate to speak. He works as the district’s technology coordinator and is also a business education teacher. This is his 18th year at the district.
“When I was first hired, it was an 80 percent teaching load and 20 percent technology and now that’s completely flipped,” he said. “Now my job is 80 percent technology coordinator, but I still teach accounting yet, and sometimes advanced accounting. The unique thing about my job as technology coordinator is that I work in both school buildings and I interact with every single student and staff member in 4K through 12th.”
Jacobson told the audience that he feels fortunate to have been involved in creating the district’s strategic plan three years ago.
“I have a mindset from a leadership standpoint – to lead is to serve and to be able to live in and be a part of this community, raise our family. I’m very passionate about the Marathon School District and the relationships we’ve built. When you go to an event or go to church and you see those you’ve taught who have chosen to come back to the Marathon community to raise their family, that is why I want to be a part of those solutions continuing going forward. What better compliment is it to our school district and our community that those who have gone to college or into whatever career have decided they want their child to be educated in the Marathon School District and they want to raise their family in the Marathon community and be a part of something special that is here, so that’s my passion and reason why.”
“I am not going anywhere. You met the other candidates and I think we are going to be in great hands however it shakes out, but I am excited for the future of Marathon School District and excited to be a part of it and hopefully be part of the solution to what lies ahead.”
Martin asked Jacobson if he wanted to continue coaching the varsity boys basketball team if he becomes superintendent. He responded that he’d like to continue coaching but it’s ultimately the school board’s decision.
