Heilmann hired as superintendent of Eau Claire school district

The Oshkosh Northwestern is reporting this afternoon that Oshkosh Area School District superintendent Ron Heilmann has been hired to head up the Eau Claire school district. Though he has come under a great deal of fire in recent months for what some have called a failure to lead the district, I think it is important to remember that the school board is ultimately responsible for district leadership. If the school board wanted the district to go in a direction other than where Heilmann was recommending it go, it should have taken the appropriate action to see that that happened.

It's also important to remember, that while Heilmann could have changed boundaries on his own without a single board vote, he assembled groups and committees to study the facilities plan and redistricting, and made recommendations to the board based on their research, etc. Whether people like the plans that were recommended or even eventually decided upon, one can only imagine that it has been difficult to do his job when every plan that came forward saw groups of parents screaming "not with my kid's school."

And while I, too, have not always agreed with everything the district, or Dr. Heilmann personally, has recommended, I would like to extend heartfelt congratulations to him on his new position, wish him well in all his future endeavors and thank him for his 10 years of service to this community and its children. I hope the Eau Claire school district is not as fractured as this one is, because in the end, though it may be the adults squabbling, it's the children who end up paying the price for their posturing and oft-times petulance.