Post by title1parent on Aug 15, 2008 5:26:09 GMT -5
www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=227357&src=76
New Central principal sets goals for new year
By Melissa Jenco | Daily Herald Staff
Published: 8/15/2008 12:06 AM
Naperville Central will have a familiar face at its helm this year to help move past the controversy that erupted last spring at the high school.
Bill Wiesbrook, assistant principal for the past three years, will serve as interim principal. He has been at the school since 1996.
Wiesbrook is taking over for Jim Caudill, who was moved to the district's administrative office this summer after an incident in which he plagiarized a speech he gave students during a graduation event.
A self-described people person, Wiesbrook hopes to start the year on a positive note, focusing on giving students every opportunity to learn and preparing for an $87.7 million renovation to the school that will start in late spring.
Wiesbrook, 45, lives in Plainfield with his wife and three children. He recently sat down with the Daily Herald to discuss the coming school year and transitioning into his new role.
Q. What are your goals for the coming year?
A. Overall I would like all the kids here to have a positive, successful school year where they learn a lot. I know that's a very general thing, but if every kid learns a lot and they feel good about their experience and they're successful at whatever they're choosing to apply themselves for, then I think that's a great school year.
Q. Are there any new programs or policies at Central this year?
A. We have some new staff. Our administration is going to be different this year. Ray Jamiolkowski is going to be serving as the interim assistant principal. We have a new director of SPS, our student personnel services area, which is made up of guidance counselors and social workers and deans. The director is Karen Lemanski. We have 13 or 14 new teachers coming on board this year.
So I think the most significant new thing that's going to happen is there are going to be some new people and people in new roles this year. But for the most part, the structure of how we're running the school will stay the same.
Q. Do you plan to talk to students about the two plagiarism incidents from last spring involving former Principal Jim Caudill and the valedictorian?
A. I have not planned on addressing that with students, but I won't avoid it. If a student wants to talk about that or if it appears there is a need for that, then I will.
But in my opinion it feels like there was plenty of information about what happened back in May, plenty of communication from our district, from our superintendent to the community about what happened. I would prefer to just start the year out on a positive note and I think that our community is well aware of what happened, so it's not my plan to start the year out by addressing those things again.
Q. There was also controversy with the Central Times newspaper last year and adviser Linda Kane lost her job with the paper. Who will run the newspaper this year and will you read it before it is published?
A. We do have an adviser in place and he is a veteran teacher in our communication arts department. His name is Keith Carlson. (Former assistant adviser) Harmony Watts resigned from the district, I think early in June. So we asked Keith Carlson if he would be interested and he accepted the position. We're happy to have him in that role.
I think he's going to be terrific. He works well with kids, is very positive and he's very competent. I think he'll be able to have a relationship with Ms. Kane and if he has questions about "how did you do this," "how did you do that," hopefully he'll be able to gain some things from her experience.
When the school year starts, I'd like to sit down with Keith and make a decision rather than me step in and make a decision about whether I will preview the newspaper before it goes to print. I'll meet with Keith and talk to him and together we'll come up with a plan. I'm very confident in Mr. Carlson. I'm not worried or concerned about (what) that first edition of the newspaper is going to look like.
We have the students do almost everything for that paper and we have some wonderful students here, we have quite a few returning who have experience from last year with the Central Times, so I'm confident - and I'm sure Keith is - they'll continue to put out a quality newspaper.
Q. High school is an interesting but sometimes tough age. What is your philosophy for working with these students?
A. High school students are young adults and especially in a big school like ours, with approximately 3,000 students, there's a lot of talent among our students. I think it's important that just because I'm older and I went to college and I have a title as principal or our staff has a title of teacher, that we don't talk down to students.
Our teachers are facilitators. They don't walk into the classroom like, "I know everything and I'm going to teach you everything," but that they walk into the classroom and the goal is for students to learn. That's the ultimate goal. They can learn from us, they learn from each other, they can learn from their own research or getting involved in a project.
I think with young adults we have to allow them some freedom and allow them to learn in different ways. But at the same time they're still young. Legally they're not adults yet. So we have to remember we have to guide them.
At the same time, part of our school district mission is to develop self-directed learners, collaborative workers, community contributors. One of the common themes there is they learn how to learn without us giving them everything. We're there to facilitate, guide them, give them assistance but not to feel like we're going to tell you what to do all the time.
Q. Now that you're the principal, are you making any changes to the renovation plans and what is the current status of the plans?
A. There are a lot of people involved in the facility renovation project. At the district level, Craig Williams (chief information officer) and Ralph Weaver (director of facilities and construction) and now Jim Caudill (director of student intervention programs) and architects who are doing most of the planning. We've been meeting with those people regularly.
I have not stepped in and said "hold it a minute, we're going to do things (differently)." I was already in sessions where I have had opportunities to give input on things. There's been a lot of feedback solicited and we continue to do that.
This week we met again with each of our department chairs, the athletic director and the activities director for another opportunity to say here's the plan, we've tweaked it over and over. Is there any concern that we have?
I've been very impressed with the planning for this project and the opportunities for feedback at the school level. I think if the architects were here what they'd say is it's very close, but they don't want to use the word "final."
What you're going to see on Monday (at the school board meeting) is going to give you a real good idea of what things are going to look like, but they haven't necessarily made final decisions like what color the exterior will be or the interior plans. There are still opportunities where if you need a little more storage for our registrar's office, well we'll make this conference room a little smaller and this a little bigger. I think (groundbreaking) is going to be on the edge of May and June.
Q. The district will be searching for a permanent principal this fall. Will you apply for the position?
A. I don't know. I'd like to see how this job feels and after a few months if it feels right then probably I would apply to be the permanent principal. If it doesn't feel like it's quite the right fit, then I won't. I'm just going to see how it goes.
Q. If you decide not to apply, would you go back to your role as assistant principal?
A. Yes, that's what I'd do.
Q. Is there anything else people should know about you?
A. I'm kind of a people person. When you're in a school like this there are people everywhere and you're dealing with people all the time.
Obviously the biggest majority of the people are our students and I enjoy students, I enjoy interacting with students. I also like the relationships with colleagues and my staff, and we have wonderful parents here. I enjoy interacting with parents.
This job is a good fit for me because I like people. This place, overwhelmingly the people I interact with are wonderful people.
I absolutely believe we have terrific students in this building and our parents are outstanding.
Our parents are terrific with the volunteer contributions they make to our school and registration is just one example. This is a nice place to be because the people here are very good
New Central principal sets goals for new year
By Melissa Jenco | Daily Herald Staff
Published: 8/15/2008 12:06 AM
Naperville Central will have a familiar face at its helm this year to help move past the controversy that erupted last spring at the high school.
Bill Wiesbrook, assistant principal for the past three years, will serve as interim principal. He has been at the school since 1996.
Wiesbrook is taking over for Jim Caudill, who was moved to the district's administrative office this summer after an incident in which he plagiarized a speech he gave students during a graduation event.
A self-described people person, Wiesbrook hopes to start the year on a positive note, focusing on giving students every opportunity to learn and preparing for an $87.7 million renovation to the school that will start in late spring.
Wiesbrook, 45, lives in Plainfield with his wife and three children. He recently sat down with the Daily Herald to discuss the coming school year and transitioning into his new role.
Q. What are your goals for the coming year?
A. Overall I would like all the kids here to have a positive, successful school year where they learn a lot. I know that's a very general thing, but if every kid learns a lot and they feel good about their experience and they're successful at whatever they're choosing to apply themselves for, then I think that's a great school year.
Q. Are there any new programs or policies at Central this year?
A. We have some new staff. Our administration is going to be different this year. Ray Jamiolkowski is going to be serving as the interim assistant principal. We have a new director of SPS, our student personnel services area, which is made up of guidance counselors and social workers and deans. The director is Karen Lemanski. We have 13 or 14 new teachers coming on board this year.
So I think the most significant new thing that's going to happen is there are going to be some new people and people in new roles this year. But for the most part, the structure of how we're running the school will stay the same.
Q. Do you plan to talk to students about the two plagiarism incidents from last spring involving former Principal Jim Caudill and the valedictorian?
A. I have not planned on addressing that with students, but I won't avoid it. If a student wants to talk about that or if it appears there is a need for that, then I will.
But in my opinion it feels like there was plenty of information about what happened back in May, plenty of communication from our district, from our superintendent to the community about what happened. I would prefer to just start the year out on a positive note and I think that our community is well aware of what happened, so it's not my plan to start the year out by addressing those things again.
Q. There was also controversy with the Central Times newspaper last year and adviser Linda Kane lost her job with the paper. Who will run the newspaper this year and will you read it before it is published?
A. We do have an adviser in place and he is a veteran teacher in our communication arts department. His name is Keith Carlson. (Former assistant adviser) Harmony Watts resigned from the district, I think early in June. So we asked Keith Carlson if he would be interested and he accepted the position. We're happy to have him in that role.
I think he's going to be terrific. He works well with kids, is very positive and he's very competent. I think he'll be able to have a relationship with Ms. Kane and if he has questions about "how did you do this," "how did you do that," hopefully he'll be able to gain some things from her experience.
When the school year starts, I'd like to sit down with Keith and make a decision rather than me step in and make a decision about whether I will preview the newspaper before it goes to print. I'll meet with Keith and talk to him and together we'll come up with a plan. I'm very confident in Mr. Carlson. I'm not worried or concerned about (what) that first edition of the newspaper is going to look like.
We have the students do almost everything for that paper and we have some wonderful students here, we have quite a few returning who have experience from last year with the Central Times, so I'm confident - and I'm sure Keith is - they'll continue to put out a quality newspaper.
Q. High school is an interesting but sometimes tough age. What is your philosophy for working with these students?
A. High school students are young adults and especially in a big school like ours, with approximately 3,000 students, there's a lot of talent among our students. I think it's important that just because I'm older and I went to college and I have a title as principal or our staff has a title of teacher, that we don't talk down to students.
Our teachers are facilitators. They don't walk into the classroom like, "I know everything and I'm going to teach you everything," but that they walk into the classroom and the goal is for students to learn. That's the ultimate goal. They can learn from us, they learn from each other, they can learn from their own research or getting involved in a project.
I think with young adults we have to allow them some freedom and allow them to learn in different ways. But at the same time they're still young. Legally they're not adults yet. So we have to remember we have to guide them.
At the same time, part of our school district mission is to develop self-directed learners, collaborative workers, community contributors. One of the common themes there is they learn how to learn without us giving them everything. We're there to facilitate, guide them, give them assistance but not to feel like we're going to tell you what to do all the time.
Q. Now that you're the principal, are you making any changes to the renovation plans and what is the current status of the plans?
A. There are a lot of people involved in the facility renovation project. At the district level, Craig Williams (chief information officer) and Ralph Weaver (director of facilities and construction) and now Jim Caudill (director of student intervention programs) and architects who are doing most of the planning. We've been meeting with those people regularly.
I have not stepped in and said "hold it a minute, we're going to do things (differently)." I was already in sessions where I have had opportunities to give input on things. There's been a lot of feedback solicited and we continue to do that.
This week we met again with each of our department chairs, the athletic director and the activities director for another opportunity to say here's the plan, we've tweaked it over and over. Is there any concern that we have?
I've been very impressed with the planning for this project and the opportunities for feedback at the school level. I think if the architects were here what they'd say is it's very close, but they don't want to use the word "final."
What you're going to see on Monday (at the school board meeting) is going to give you a real good idea of what things are going to look like, but they haven't necessarily made final decisions like what color the exterior will be or the interior plans. There are still opportunities where if you need a little more storage for our registrar's office, well we'll make this conference room a little smaller and this a little bigger. I think (groundbreaking) is going to be on the edge of May and June.
Q. The district will be searching for a permanent principal this fall. Will you apply for the position?
A. I don't know. I'd like to see how this job feels and after a few months if it feels right then probably I would apply to be the permanent principal. If it doesn't feel like it's quite the right fit, then I won't. I'm just going to see how it goes.
Q. If you decide not to apply, would you go back to your role as assistant principal?
A. Yes, that's what I'd do.
Q. Is there anything else people should know about you?
A. I'm kind of a people person. When you're in a school like this there are people everywhere and you're dealing with people all the time.
Obviously the biggest majority of the people are our students and I enjoy students, I enjoy interacting with students. I also like the relationships with colleagues and my staff, and we have wonderful parents here. I enjoy interacting with parents.
This job is a good fit for me because I like people. This place, overwhelmingly the people I interact with are wonderful people.
I absolutely believe we have terrific students in this building and our parents are outstanding.
Our parents are terrific with the volunteer contributions they make to our school and registration is just one example. This is a nice place to be because the people here are very good