Baraboo principal offered Portage post

By Christina Beam - Baraboo News Republic 4/11/07

Jack Young Middle School Principal Bob Meicher will be offered the top job at Portage Junior High School with a salary of $85,000, the Portage School Board decided Monday. Meicher was one of two finalists for the principal position, along with Jeff Mastin, assistant principal at Stoughton River Bluff Middle School.

"I will spend my first year as your principal building relationships," Meicher, 38, told a Portage forum crowd April 4. "That is the most critical thing, and I knew my predecessor (Wayne Bartels), and he was great at that." Bartels was planning on retiring before being killed in an accident on his Marquette County farm last October.

During the interview process, Meicher said community support for education was one of the primary reasons educators flock to the Portage School District. "It's a precious commodity, believe me," he said.

Portage passed its second consecutive school referendum last year, while Baraboo voters narrowly defeated two divisive referenda in 2006 and the board made cuts to teaching staff, maintenance and co-curriculars.

When an audience member at the meet-and-greet asked Meicher why he was prepared to move from Baraboo to Portage, he said, "It's really about being a part of something great. This sounds selfish, but if I can give that to my kids, then I can give it to other kids, too."

Baraboo Director of Curriculum and Instruction Crystal Ritzenthaler said the district has not received Meicher's resignation, but administrators won't delay in posting the position once they do. "It will leave a huge gap in our district in terms of leadership at the middle school level. Bob is a very people-oriented person, and I think he interacted well with parents and staff and students," she said. "Although we will post the position as soon as possible and search to fill the position, we are not replacing Bob."

The district is also in the process of filling associate principal and newly-created activities director positions at the high school, as well as a director of pupil services and special ed and director of community education. "Baraboo has a lot to offer, in terms of our community, our environment, and it's a wonderful place to raise a family," Ritzenthaler said. "I still believe we have a wonderful school system… and the board is very focused on student achievement, so I'm optimistic that we're still going to attract quality candidates, whether we're looking for administrators or teachers."

Department of Public Instruction records show Meicher's salary for the 2005-06 school year was $69,170, plus $29,826 in benefits. Bartels' salary in Portage for last year was $82,898, plus $14,465 in benefits. Baraboo District Administrator Lance Alwin was out of the state Tuesday and Meicher, who is on family leave until May 7, did not return calls at home for comment.
- Jen McCoy contributed to this story.
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There goes another fine Baraboo School District administrator. The "A-team" is starting to break apart. Maybe Meicher got tired of covering up for employee harassment by his teacher buddy, student harassment by his staff, the district administrator's "visions", school board members and their dereliction of duty to our community, as well as his own missteps and outright lies to school district staff, parents, and the people of Baraboo.

I'm still not convinced it's all about the kids. Note the higher pay where he's going. I said it before and I'll say it again...it's all about the MONEY. Don't let the door hit you where the good Lord split you.