Hired just days before school opened in Gillett on Sept. 3, two new administrators are quickly adjusting to their roles.
“The first week has been a lot of coming in and figuring things out,” said Steve Linssen, while apologizing for his messy office.
Linssen, Gillett Secondary School principal, and Todd Carlson, district superintendent, left the Shawano School District in late August to take positions in Gillett.
Carlson said his first week went well.
“The staff was very positive and very excited, so I think things are going in a good direction,” he said.
The Shawano School Board on Sept. 3 accepted the resignation of Carlson with a 5-4 vote following a 2½-hour, closed-door session. Carlson was hired as Shawano’s superintendent in August 2007 after being in the Suring School District for 19 years.
Carlson, a Gillett native, submitted his resignation Aug. 27, saying he had been offered a position in Gillett.
“It’s great for me to be home. I’m from this area and graduated from this school, and it’s great to be home,” he said.
Linssen’s resignation as associate principal at Shawano Community High School was unanimously approved by the Shawano School Board.
Linssen said he spent his first week getting reacquainted with teachers he knew from student teaching in Gillett and meeting other staff members and students. On Friday afternoon, he was looking forward to attending his first football game at the school.
“A lot of the reason I came to Gillett — going back to my student teaching days — is the family atmosphere of the staff, the kids,” he said.
Linssen, 33, attended Mountain School for elementary school and calls himself a “small town kid from Oconto County.” His relationship with Carlson dates back to his middle school days at Suring School, when Carlson was his social studies teacher.
“Todd is a people person, and he truly is concerned about the kids and the staff,” Linssen said. “He truly wants to help a community have pride in its school.”
Carlson received his superintendent certification from Winona State University. He received his master’s degree from Marian College in Fond du Lac and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
An Oconto Falls High School graduate, Linssen earned a political science major and secondary education minor at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
“I don’t know why I became a social studies teacher per se, education was always something in my heart,” he said.
After student teaching in Gillett, Linssen taught social studies in Shawano nine years and served as associate principal of Shawano Community High School for two years. He earned his educational administration degree at Marian University in Fond du Lac.
He brings various experiences to the position, having worked as a middle school athletic director, summer school principal, varsity football coach, middle school track coach and Destination Imagination coach. He also served on school improvement committees and has worked with the new educational standards and teacher evaluation program.
He said his focus this year is threefold, to foster respectful and trusting relationships with students, staff and families, support high expectations for student achievement and maintain a safe learning environment.
Linssen has several family connections to Gillett; his dad lives in the district and his brother graduated from Gillett High School.
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