After school shutdowns, mask rules 'strained' community, De Pere's new schools superintendent works to rebuild connections
DE PERE – Chris Thompson has a lot of work ahead as the new superintendent for the De Pere School District.
As inflation rises and the district bounces back from online learning during the pandemic, Thompson is focused on rebuilding the district's connection with the community and planning for the future.
Thompson started in his new role July 1 and has a two-year contract with the district making an annual salary of $155,000. He's taking over after the retirement of Ben Villarruel, who served as the district's superintendent for 20 years.
A Milwaukee native, Thompson attended St. Norbert College as an undergraduate and retained a fondness for the De Pere community.
"De Pere (the superintendent position) opened up and I looked at it, and my wife said, 'Chris, you have to go for this,'" Thompson said.
After graduating from St. Norbert, Thompson became a music teacher in Oak Creek. He became an assistant principal in the Racine Unified School District and moved into administration as Racine's director of instruction, covering 31 schools and about 17,000 students.
Then he moved to the Rosholt School District, which has about 500 students, where he was an elementary principal and assistant superintendent before taking over as the district's superintendent.
He also has his master's degree from UW-Milwaukee in school leadership and a doctorate in education from Edgewood College.
Now as the leader of the De Pere School District — which has six schools and roughly 4,500 students — Thompson has his eye on the future.
He wants to start planning for how the district can adapt to a changing life in De Pere.
In the last three years, the district's student enrollment has remained stagnant, but it was seeing steady increases from 2011 to 2018. The schools are starting to get full, according to Thompson.
"We have to start looking at the future and is the community, is the school district ready for the future right now?" he said.
School Board member Dan Van Straten said that over the last couple of years the district has been planning for a growing community. Now is the time ramp up those conversations and prepare for an expanding student population.
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'Those decisions weren't always popular'
One of Thompson's main goals is to recover the district's relationship with the community after the stress of the pandemic.
"School districts, because they have a large number of people in a small space, had to make decisions, and those decisions weren't always popular," he said. "Now it's really about putting the relationship back together where it may have been strained before."
Regardless of whether a family supported closing schools or opposed masking, there were always residents with strong opinions on both sides of those decisions, according to School Board President David Youngquist.
"(Chris) Thompson needs to restore, I'd say, the excitement and the pride in our relationships," Youngquist said. "Because I guess the bottom line is, it wasn't just De Pere. It was regional. It was national. People did not agree with opinions that medical professionals had or school boards took, and that's just a fact."
Van Straten wants everyone to move forward together. The community relationship has improved since the district returned to in-person learning, but it can always be stronger.
"I think in really all areas — all types of businesses, communities around the area, school districts around the area — COVID was such a dividing force for so many," he said. "So we want to build those bridges again. We want to invite the community into what we're doing and make them a part of what we're doing."
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By taking part in as many community events as possible, whether it's attending football games or choir concerts, Thompson hopes to build that relationship and connect with students.
"I feel it helps me with relevance because then I get to see what the students are thinking and how they are growing themselves. That keeps me fresh," he said.
Recovering from COVID, inflation in De Pere
The largest challenges Thompson anticipates are closing any learning gaps because of COVID-19-induced online schooling and covering the costs of inflation.
Kids in kindergarten through third grade were most affected by virtual school since they were forced online right as they were beginning their education journeys.
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"We're watching that very carefully right now and just making certain, are there gaps? Are we seeing anything that's involving lapses with their phonics skills or their comprehension?" he said.
Inflation, which has peaked at 9.1% since last June, is always on Thompson's mind, he said. He's concerned about the district's ability to keep up — something that will largely depend on state education funding levels.
Right now, school funding is fixed under the 2021-23 biennial budget that was set prior to this year's massive price spikes.
Thompson is waiting to start any new programs or initiatives until he gets a feel for what is important to students, staff and the community.
And that community is what really drew Thompson back.
"My wife and I have really strong positive feelings toward this community. We think it's a really great place to raise a family. We want to be part of a community like De Pere," Thompson said.
Danielle DuClos covers k-12 education in the Green Bay area as a Report for America corps member. She is based at the Press-Gazette in Green Bay. To contact her, email dduclos@gannett.com or call 907-717-6851. Follow her on Twitter @danielle_duclos.
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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: De Pere's new superintendent wants to rebuild community connection
