GWINN — Calling him “a good fit” and “willing to listen,” the Gwinn Area Community Schools Board of Education unanimously decided on Tuesday to enter into negotiations with Brandon Bruce, current principal at downstate Hart High School, to be the next GACS superintendent.

Current Superintendent Sandy Petrovich plans to retire effective July 1. She took over the superintendent role from Tom Jayne late in 2017. Petrovich had a daunting task in front of her, with the district facing a budget deficit of over $400,000 at one point. Now, the district is financially stable.

Voters also approved a sinking fund millage for the school district in March 2020 after the request previously failed twice.

The board on Tuesday interviewed two other candidates for the position beside Bruce, who formerly was principal at downstate Union City Middle School and athletic director in Newberry.

The other candidates interviewed were Glenda Oginski, director of curriculum, instruction and assessment in Merrill, Wisconsin, and former elementary school principal in Merrill; Antigo, Wisconsin; and Menominee, as well as Kendra Feldhusen, K-6 virtual teacher in Newberry and former statewide field team leadership consultant for MI Excel and K-6 building administrator/K-12 instructional coach in Engadine.

In his interview, Bruce was asked how he would determine the strengths and areas for improvement in his first year in the Gwinn school district, and what steps he would take to address those areas needing improvement.

Bruce recalled his methods courses in college when one of his instructors said that it’s probably not until the third year before someone understands and has a good feel for a classroom.

After his third year, he discovered his instructor was right.

“Obviously, you don’t have that kind of cushion, I think, to step into this role,” Bruce said. “You can’t wait three years.”

He said he would meet with various district leaders and administrators to develop relationships and learn the status of their areas.

Bruce noted he would also learn what the board of education expects and its goals for each upcoming school year.

“Now I’ve got specific bullet points that I need to look at when I’m setting my administrative agenda,” he said.

Bruce explained how he maintains accessibility and visibility for staff, parents and the community in his school.

“I’ve always told my staff and I’ve told every student in my building, ‘My door is always open,'” he said.

Bruce indicated that he would have weekly updates to communicate with the Gwinn Board of Education regularly.

“It’s extremely important for the functioning of any kind of a school district,” he said.

In her interview, Oginski told the board how she builds staff morale.

“If I say I’m going to do something, I do my darndest to make sure that I follow through with that, and just be honest and transparent, because once that trust is broken, it’s very hard to rebuild that,” Oginski said.

She addressed school safety as well, noting she was working in Antigo when there was a prom shooting in which a student died.

“Having a secure facility is very important to me,” Oginski said. “One of the things that I would want to do, and it would be one of the first things that I would want to do, is walk through and see all of the facilities and see — how secure is it? How safe is it?”

However, she pointed out that communication is important because lockdowns that shut out people who could potentially harm students could result in parents viewing the situation as shutting them out as well.

“And it’s not, because if children aren’t safe, they can’t learn to their fullest potential,” Oginski said.

Feldhusen also mentioned trust and follow-through as important factors in building a board-superintendent relationship.

“We definitely have to be able to trust one another in order to make the best decisions for the district,” she said.

Feldhusen noted she would start with “great communication.”

“There’s a lot of misunderstandings that happen with poor communication, and when we don’t see each other every day, I think communication is really, really critical,” she said.

Feldhusen also said she would follow through with what’s being asked of her and things she indicated she would do.

“Again, that’s working on building that trust,” she said.

Christie Mastric can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 250. Her email address is cbleck@miningjournal.net