The Shawano School Board unanimously named Gary Cumberland as the district’s new superintendent Monday night and accepted another administrator’s resignation.
Tim Mayer, Shawano Community High School associate principal and athletic director, will leave his post next month.
Cumberland was assistant superintendent and has served as interim superintendent since Todd Carlson resigned in August, just days before the start of the school year, to accept the superintendent job in the Gillett School District.
Steve Linssen stepped down as associate principal with Shawano Community High School to accept a principal post with Gillett the same week Carlson departed.
Cumberland said he is eager to move forward.
“I’m excited to have the position. I think we have a lot of good things going for us here in the district, and I think we can work together and be even stronger than we have in the past,” Cumberland said. “Needless to say, there are a few challenges in light of the resignations, but there’s a really good staff here.”
Details still need to be worked out on a contract for Cumberland, who was making $110,896.85 in salary and $34,235.80 in benefits as assistant superintendent.
Carlson was receiving $135,294.16 in salary and $37,955.58 in benefits annually at the time of his resignation.
Cumberland started with the Shawano School District in 2000 as principal for Olga Brener Elementary School before being promoted to assistant superintendent in 2007.
The board voted 7-0 to accept the resignation of Mayer, which will take effect in mid-October.
Mayer said Tuesday he was leaving the education field and taking a job in the private sector. He said he had applied for the job in May and had initially planned to leave earlier this month, but the other administrator resignations prompted him to ask his new employer if he could push back his start date.
“I didn’t want to leave the school district in a hardship. I wanted to make sure that I at least made it through homecoming,” Mayer said. “Homecoming is the busiest time in an AD’s career because of all the activities that go on, and Shawano does it right.”
Mayer started out with SCHS as the business education teacher in 1994 before being promoted to the associate principal position in 2005. Mayer obtained his bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
Mayer was quick to dispel speculation that his departure was due to being disgruntled with the School Board or the administrative changes. He said the decision was hard because he did not want to leave the students and staff, but he felt it was time to get out of the education field.
“I know it looks fishy and everything, and I felt bad,” Mayer said. “I just wanted to start the school year out right.”
Mayer’s salary was $76,483.36, and benefits totaled $18,936.61.
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