WSHS principal takes new job; WAPS hiring (5/7/2021)
Winona Senior High School (WSHS) Principal Mark Anderson will soon step down from his current position to serve as principal of Kennedy Secondary School in Fergus Falls, Minn. He will start serving in his new role this July. Anderson has been with the district for over a decade, serving as Winona Middle School principal before moving to the high school in 2016. Winona Area Public Schools (WAPS) Board member Karl Sonneman said at the board’s May 6 meeting that he would like board members to play more of a role in and have additional oversight of the hiring process for WSHS’s next principal. The School Board follows Minnesota School Board Association (MSBA) processes regarding boards’ functions in school districts, Sonneman said, and he does not agree with the association’s guidance about boards’ roles with hiring staff. A board’s role is to “select and employ one person—the superintendent,” and “delegate the authority to the superintendent to recommend and evaluate all school district staff,” according to MSBA. “It I think is flawed in that it keeps school boards out of very important decisions such as this,” Sonneman said. “The visibility of the high school principal is probably second only to the visibility of the superintendent.”