The schoolboard unanimously selected Royalton Superintendent Dr. Kristine Wehrkamp Herman and Fond Du Lac Superintendent Dr. Jeffrey Fleig as finalists for ISD 200 Superintendent.
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The schoolboard unanimously selected Royalton Superintendent Dr. Kristine Wehrkamp Herman and Fond Du Lac Superintendent Dr. Jeffrey Fleig as finalists for ISD 200 Superintendent.
“It’s a big day for Hastings,” said Barb Dorn, Director of Leadership Development and Executive Search at the Minnesota School Board Association (MSBA), as school board members gathered in the district office at 8 a.m. on Tuesday May 6 for a full day of interviews and deliberation.
The ensuing six hours of interviews saw candidates fielding questions from upgrading educational experiences to upholding a district’s education philosophy to creating, implementing and measuring strategic plans.
Dr. Wherkemp Herman
Royalton Superintendent Dr. Wherkemp Herman spoke at several points of the interview about the importance of professional learning communities (PLCs) from her own experience learning in them: “I just know when you have a highly effective PLC, you have highly effective student outcomes.”
Wherkemp Herman also underscored the importance of PLCs when it came to addressing diverse learning needs of students, especially with the continued implementation of the READ Act.
The board asked about balancing the needs of various stakeholders when making decisions as a superintendent. Wherkampt Herman described her leadership style as “leading through teams, so I rarely—if ever—make a decision in isolation. I feel multiple perspectives are necessary in order to have the best decision possible.”
Wherkamp Herman also spoke to her doctoral dissertation which was explicitly on superintendent decision-making.
When asked about creating outside partnerships with community members and businesses, Wherkemp Herman spoke about the partnership Royalton has with Camp Ripley, the National Guard training facility in Little Falls, Minn. While being a military training facility, Camp Ripley has over 1,000 civilian jobs on-site.
“Our high school kids come and see what those jobs are and opportunities that they can work and stay in our community,” she said.
Despite that partnership, Wherkemp Herman was open that fewer students than anticipated were participating in the program: “I’m a little disappointed in the number of students that are actually participating and going to the site.”
Previous experience in strategic plan implementation, execution, and evaluation was another question posed by the school board. Here again, Wherkamp Herman spoke to leaning on stakeholders: “I was very clear that it will be done as a team of our people, not just me, because this cannot be the superintendent strategic plan.”
In the years following the creation of that strategic plan, Wherkemp Herman spoke to streamlining the communication from the district across different platforms and even using a community-made guide to navigating those platforms as a parent.
Wherkemp Herman also mentioned the long-term financial planning done in Royalton in order to cover the costs of roof replacements in 2035 which is expected to cost $1.4 million. “Our goal is to set aside $100,000 in LTFM [long-term facilities maintenance] funds and let that sit every single year so that by the time we’re ready to start doing some roof projects, we have some of those dollars available.”
Dr. Jeffrey Fleig
Dr. Jeffrey Fleig initially described ISD 200 as “primed to go from great to world-class,” citing two statistics from recent perceptions surveys: 88% of students believe staff members care for them, and 74% of staff feel they are comfortable sharing concerns with administration.
Fleig referenced the fallen test scores in math and reading across the district since the COVID-19 pandemic: “We haven’t recovered yet in either one. And that’s what I do best.”
Fleig described his leadership style as balancing needs of stakeholders by walking down the middle of issues: “From a political standpoint, I walk down the middle of the road on making decisions and look for common ground on what’s best for our community and our kids.”
To this point, Fleig spoke to meeting with stakeholder groups across the political spectrum and his focus on committees of the whole so that input is not fragmented between board members who might be seated across different committees: “I prefer to have everybody together so all the voices are working together.”
As to improving academic outcomes, Fleig spoke to his previous work in Fond Du Lac where under his tenure, all 14 schools at least “met expectations,” for the first time in 11 years, according to the Wisconsin Department of Instruction 2023-2024 report card.
That plan consisted of implementing a Chief of Schools and Educational Accountability position to supervise principals and a plan of continuous improvement involving 90-day plans that school leaders would report on twice annually.
Fleig also addressed criticisms he received in Fond Du Lac regarding how he spoke to teachers in an Oct. 15, 2024 staff meeting.
In that meeting, Fleig is alleged to have called Woodworth Elementary School an “embarrassment to the district,” that teachers there were “failures as staff members” and that as a group, Woodworth likes to “embrace a culture of failure,” according to former Woodworth Middle School teacher Amy Lubin who was at the meeting. Lubin spoke before the Fond Du Lac school board on Oct. 28, 2024.
“Fear and intimidation do not build a culture of collaboration, autonomy and what is truly best for kids,” said Lubin at the meeting.
At the interview, Fleig addressed these concerns by saying the school “clearly did not get the results I hoped for. It was kind of a failure if I am being honest with you,” but that he “wouldn’t do it again. Would have done it differently.”
The incident was preceded by a spike in resignations in the district staring in 2021, the year Fleig started as superintendent in Fond Du Lac. According to reporting from Channel 26 Northeast Wisconsin, resignations in the district jumped in 2021 up to 61 resignations from 39 the year prior, nearly double the district’s 10-year average of 31 resignations annually.
In 2023 a Facebook group called “LOSS OF CONFIDENCE in Fond Du Lac Superintendent Jeffrey Fleig” was created. The group has roughly 1,000 members including Fond Du Lac district staff. Administrators of the group refused to comment citing legal concerns.
Just three months after the Oct. 15 staff meeting, Fleig announced his retirement from the district saying he was prioritizing his family and his son’s swimming career: “Over the next three years, I want to focus on supporting him as he competes at the NCAA Division I level and prepares for the 2028 Olympic Trials,” according to his January 2025 resignation letter.
Board deliberation
Dorn provided the board with several tools to evaluate the candidates including an exceeds, meets, or disappoints (EMD) printout that aggregated the board’s grading of candidates.
Vice Chair Jessica Dressley initially suggested bringing back Wherkemp Herman and Fleig. Board members widely agreed with bringing back Wherkempt Herman, citing her heavy focus on teambuilding and experience and familiarity with school finances, especially given her 10 years of experience working for credit card companies before moving to education.
“We have one very strong candidate that we all felt good about,” said Director Mark Zuzek.
The board was less sure about Fleig.
While Chair Carrie Tate called him “a transformational leader,” with Clerk Melissa Millner calling him “definitely more decisive,” Zuzek expressed concerns over bringing Fleig back for a second interview.
“Relationally, I don’t know how high of a priority he had and that’s super important for leaders. I’m concerned that a divide could grow between him and our rank-and-file,” said Zuzek.
Zuzek also raised concerns about Fleig’s lack of emphasis on teamwork: “His answers were all about ‘I’ and ‘me’ and very rarely, for example, talking about the work that went into improving test scores […] there’s not a lot of teaching as superintendent.”
The board will meet for the second round of interviews on Tuesday, May 13 where afterward they will move forward with a lone finalist and begin contract negotiations.
