PRINT ADS

West Salem High School Principal Troy Gunderson will be leaving to become the next superintendent of the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau School District.

On June 26, the G-E-T School Board unanimously voted 9-0 to approve Gunderson as the district’s next superintendent. He replaces Craig Gerlach, the G-E-T superintendent since 2001, who accepted the same position for the Monona Grove School District in April.

“I’m excited,” said Gunderson, 46, who led WSHS for the last 15 years. “I think I’m ready to take on new challenges, and I’m looking forward to this.”

According to G-E-T School Board President Tanya Gendreau, Gunderson and the board agreed to a two-year contract worth $106,000 a year. He will begin Aug. 1.

Gunderson was chosen over one other finalist, Holmen Middle School Principal Lisa Snyder. Gendreau said Gunderson’s personality and positive attitude were some of the qualities they were looking for in their superintendent search. In addition, the G-E-T School District, with an enrollment of about 1,300 students, will have some construction projects coming up when it builds a new middle school and remodels the high school; Gunderson has such experience in dealing with construction projects when the new West Salem High School was built about five years ago.

“He gave really exciting answers during the interview process, and his personality seemed a good mesh with our district,” Gendreau said. “We liked him a lot.”

On Friday, the West Salem School Board accepted Gunderson’s resignation with noted reluctance. School board members said that Gunderson — the longest tenured principal at WSHS — will be missed, but they wished him the best in his future endeavors.

“G-E-T is getting a wonderful man,” said West Salem School Board member Linda Brown.

West Salem School Board President Errol Kindschy agreed.

“(He) did a really nice job,” Kindschy said. “We appreciated (him) very, very much.”

West Salem Superintendent Nancy Burns said the district will begin advertising for a new principal this week but already had four interested individuals contact the district by Friday afternoon. Burns said the district hopes to have all applications in by July 16 and begin interviewing the following week. Burns said it’s anticipated the board will make a decision by July 29 with the new high school principal starting Aug. 17.

She said it won’t be easy to replace Gunderson.

“That position is in charge of administration and education and setting the vision and direction of the high school, and that’s what Troy has done so well,” Burns said.

Gunderson said he applied for the G-E-T superintendent position because it was a good career opportunity and he and his wife Jill — who teaches at Melrose-Mindoro Junior High School — wanted to stay in the area. Gunderson will actually still live in West Salem for the next school year so his youngest daughter of two children can finish her last year at WSHS, and his wife will continue to teach at Mel-Min.

However, the decision to leave WSHS was not easy because of all people he has met and worked with during his time there.

“It’s all about relationships,” said Gunderson, who is originally from Colfax, Wis. “I’ve almost hired everybody that works here (in the high school), and my peers at this place are very close friends of mine.

“The high school is like my third kid, and it’s like you’re giving it away.”

Gunderson received his bachelor of science degree from the University of Minnesota in 1985 and his master’s degree from Winona State University in 1992; he received his certification to be a superintendent from WSU in 2002. Prior to being hired as the WSHS principal in August 1993, Gunderson was principal at Princeton High School in Princeton, Wis., from 1992-93. Before that, he taught math and computer science and was the athletic director at Melrose-Mindoro High School from 1985-92.

Looking back, Gunderson said he has very much enjoyed his time at WSHS. Highlights during his tenure include the school remodeling project and the implementation and growth of senior exit projects, which has become a model for other school districts around the state.

But Gunderson said he feels his biggest accomplishment was the opportunity to assemble the teachers and staff who are currently at the high school. Over a 15-year span, there have been a number of teachers who needed to be hired to either replace others or fill new positions as programs grew, and Gunderson said his goal was to offer students the best education possible.

“In that time, I was able to hire and just put together a great staff of people, and that is almost your biggest legacy to stay here,” Gunderson said. “Just to have the opportunities we offer kids is to select the right people. I’m either lucky or good because we picked superstars.”

Gunderson said challenges along the way weren’t any different from other school districts, one of which is community growth. In addition to more students putting strains on current facilities and programs, he said sometimes tensions form between families with a long local history and new families moving from outside the area, so he has attempted to bridge those gaps.

And that has led Gunderson to work hard at instilling a sense of community pride in students — something that isn’t always easy because some youth take that for granted.

“Trying to ensure that our kids are gathering a sense of community while attending the school district is something we’ve really put some emphasis on,” he said. “When someone asks you where you’re from, most of the time people will tell you it’s where they graduated from. You want to make sure you keep that identity and continue to make this a special place when they come back.”

And when it comes to identity, Gunderson will forever be tied to West Salem.

“I would like to thank the school board, Mrs. Burns and the West Salem community for all that has been given to me,” Gunderson said. “Your gracious and unwavering support in my time as your high school principal is something that I will forever cherish.

“No matter where I go from here, I will always and forever be from West Salem.”