District makes quick work of hiring new PWHS principal

It took the Port Washington-Saukville School District only a month to find a new high school principal, and it didn’t have to look very far to find its man.

The school board on Monday picked Port High Assistant Principal and Athletic Director Thad Gabrielse to succeed Eric Burke as the school’s leader.

In doing so, the board followed the recommendation of a 16-member committee that interviewed the two applicants for the job — Gabrielse and Dan Solorzano, who is also an assistant principal at Port High. 

That committee consisted of administrators and school board members, as well as representatives of the teaching and support staff and the parent group.

The district did not seek applications from candidates outside the district.

Supt. Michael Weber said the committee considered both candidates to be highly qualified for the job but recommended Gabrielse for the job in part because of his “longevity and stability.”

“The high school staff in particular wanted to keep things going in the same direction and build on the successes they’ve had,” Weber said.

Gabrielse, a former tech-ed teacher and athletic director in the Howards Grove School District, was hired as a Port High assistant principal and athletic director in 2010.

Weber said the manner in which Gabrielse communicates with staff members, students and parents was a key consideration in the committee’s decision.

“He’s very clear in the way he communicates,” Weber said. “He listens to staff and students and he has a genuine concern and empathy for students.”

The organizational skills Gabrielse exhibited in his role as athletic director, as well as his willingness to advocate for the district during sometimes contentious Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association discussions about conference realignment and a new football-only conference the Pirates will play in beginning in fall, helped make him the leading choice for the school’s top job, Weber said. 

“He went to bat for our school district with the WIAA,” Weber said. “Consequently, we now have a football-only conference to play in. Sure, that conference could be better, but it’s a lot better than it would have been without Thad’s involvement.”

Gabrielse, who earned a master’s degree in school administration from Concordia University Wisconsin in Mequon at about the same time he came to the district, said he intends to continue the school’s focus on literacy, math, technology and target-based learning.

“And I want to continue to foster a great culture in our school,” he said. “We have a lot of great things going on at Port High and we want to continue them.”

Gabrielse, who lives in Oostburg, will be paid $123,000 a year. 

Gabrielse’s hiring comes on the heels of Burke’s announcement that he will resign on June 30 to take the job of superintendent of the Rhinelander School District. A Port High graduate, Burke has been principal of the school since 2008. Prior to that, he was a Port High teacher and principal of Lincoln Elementary School.

Gabrielse will begin his job of head principal on July 1.

The district will now begin the search for  Gabrielse’s successor, but that’s not the only administrative position it has to fill. It is currently seeking applicants for the job of Saukville Elementary School principal. The school’s current principal, Chad Brakke, has resigned effective June 30 to become the superintendent of the Cedar Grove-Belgium School District.