Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Thursday, July 24, 2008

La Crosse School District principal positions filled

By AUTUMN GROOMS | La Crosse Tribune

The La Crosse School District solidified the leadership at two of its secondary schools Tuesday by filling an open principal post at Lincoln Middle School and a future opening at Central High School, a school official said.

John Gevens was hired to lead Lincoln Middle School, and Jeff Fleig was named Central High School’s next principal, Doug Happel, associate superintendent of instruction, said.

“While recognizing that we had several very qualified candidates, we also began to realize there might be a major opportunity to fully utilize the talents of more than one of the candidates to best serve our students,” Superintendent Jerry Kember and Happel wrote in a Tuesday letter e-mailed to staff at the schools.

Gevens will succeed Larry Myhra who retired June 30 after 35 years with district. Gevens is the principal of Riverview Middle School in Barron, Wis.

Fleig, who has been one of Central’s two associate principals since 2005, will begin serving as the high school’s principal when current Principal Tom Barth chooses to retire, Happel said.

“Tom Barth has and will continue to do a fine job providing leadership at Central High School. Mr. Barth has indicated to us that, while he has not selected a definite retirement date, he does plan to retire before too many more years have (passed),” Kember and Happel wrote in the letter to staff.

The district wanted to be proactive as high school principal positions are challenging to fill by offering the position to Fleig, Happel said. In the meantime, Fleig will continue his duties as associate principal.La Crosse schools received 23 applications for the Lincoln principal position, and Gevens was selected from a field of five finalists, Happel said. He is expected to start about Aug. 6 at Lincoln.

“We believe that these appointments, combined with the administrative staff at the other secondary schools will provide stability and positive direction for the middle and high schools in La Crosse for the foreseeable future,” Kember and Happel wrote in the letter.

The La Crosse School Board met in closed session about the positions Monday and is expected to approve them Aug. 11.

Autumn Grooms can be reached at (608) 791-8424 or agrooms@lacrossetribune.com.