Whitnall finds temporary superintendent after two others left the position this year

Kristen Taylor, who previously stepped in to lead the Oconomowoc Area School District through a turbulent time, will now lead the Whitnall School District as it recovers from losing two other leaders in three months.

Whitnall School Board members approved a contract with Taylor on Wednesday night for her to start as the interim superintendent Thursday. She steps into the role after the previous superintendent and interim superintendent left early and shared frustrations about tension in the district.

School board member Quin Brunette said the board has been "dysfunctional," and he is hopeful that Taylor will be adept, given her experience in Oconomowoc, where she saw four board members resign in a few months' time.

"She weathered that storm there," Brunette said. "Hopefully she'll be a good leader that we desperately need."

Brunette said board members have "brought the political aspect into the boardroom." He pointed to discussions in September, when board member Karen Mikolainis proposed implementing a policy that would have forbidden school staff from using students’ chosen names and pronouns without guardian permission. Brunette was among board members who disagreed.

"We all need to look at ourselves, and try and conduct ourselves in a better way," Brunette said.

In a press release, school board president Jason Craig said Taylor will be a "stabilizing force" as the district plans its budget for the next school year. The district is considering calling a referendum in November.

“Dr. Taylor comes to Whitnall with expansive experience as a human resources director and interim superintendent and will guide the Whitnall School District as in planning for success in the upcoming school year,” Craig said in the release.

Since leaving Oconomowoc, Taylor has been the director of human resources for the School District of Reedsburg. She previously served as the director of human resources for the school districts of Oconomowoc and West Allis-West Milwaukee. She has also worked as a teacher and curriculum specialist.

Craig did not immediately provide the Journal Sentinel with Taylor's contract. Brunette said the position will be full time, unlike the previous interim superintendent, who was hired part time and found that the job demanded full-time commitment.

Taylor is expected to hold the position through June, while the district searches for a long-term superintendent.

Emails show tension before previous superintendent's departure

The district's former superintendent, Lisa Olson, abruptly announced her retirement in November, ending her contract early to retire in January.

In October, Mikolainis requested a closed session discussion Nov. 13 about the potential nonrenewal of the superintendent’s contract, according to emails obtained in a records request by the Journal Sentinel. In an email to Olson and Craig, she noted that the agenda item could be written more vaguely for the public if they wanted to be “less specific and more graceful.”

Ultimately, the agenda noted generally that there would be discussion of "an administrator’s employment contract." Olson had asked that the public agenda specify that the discussion was related to her own contract, so other administrators wouldn’t worry it could be about them, but legal counsel advised the more general language, emails show.

Mikolainis’ agenda request came a week after a tense email exchange with Olson, emails show. Mikolainis laid out a list of “expectations” for Olson as the district prepared for a possible referendum, including certain communications and meetings with board members.

Olson forwarded the request to Craig, writing that Mikolainis had given her uninformed “directives.” She added, “If this is being done to set me up for failure, then I would appreciate the candor. If not, how can we move forward collaboratively?” Craig responded that he failed to see how the items set her up “for failure,” emails show.

Mikolainis declined an interview request. Craig did not immediately reply to an interview request.

The day after the Nov. 13 board meeting, Olson told staff she would retire early. In her letter to staff, Olson didn't share specific reasons for leaving but wrote that the "moment has come to embark on a new path." She also alluded to "external factors" affecting the careers of educators.

"Despite being as enthusiastic as ever about teaching and learning, the current conditions extend much beyond this realm and have shifted focus away from students and collaboration," she wrote.

Olson and other district staff had been subjects of an independent investigation commissioned by Craig to look into the tampering of Craig's election as board president, which had resulted initially in him losing that election. The investigation was meant to determine whether Olson or others were involved in the tampering, which a former staffer had admitted to. The investigation did not find such evidence.

Interim superintendent Ed Brzinski resigned early

The previous interim superintendent, Ed Brzinski, who replaced Olson and was supposed to stay through June, announced last week that he would resign early, with his last day being Feb. 9.

Brzinski told the Journal Sentinel he was leaving because he had other commitments, and the position demanded more than the 24 hours per week that he was hired to work.

"I felt like I couldn't put the time in to do the job to the standard that I hold myself to," he said.

Before leaving, Brzinski also left the board with a warning. During a Jan. 22 school board meeting, Brzinski told board members he was concerned about their ability to work together through disagreements.

"I'm worried about you as a group," Brzinski said. "How are we going to move forward so that we are the example for those teachers who are worried about us, or for those staff members who are worried about the cohesion of this group, and are we really living up to what we all promised that we would?"

Brzinski told the Journal Sentinel the board would benefit from governance training.

"You have a board that really needs to work on understanding how to function together in governance," he said.

Contact Rory Linnane at rory.linnane@jrn.com. Follow her on X (Twitter) at @RoryLinnane. 

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Whitnall Schools hire new interim superintendent, Kristen Taylor