Central district administrator to retire

Pierce to depart Dec. 31

By Jason Arndt
Editor
After more than 45 years in education, District Administrator Dr. Scott Pierce of Westosha Central High School said it is time to move on, effectively retiring from his position on Dec. 31.

Pierce, whose retirement was accepted at the Feb. 20 School Board meeting, has been the district administrator since 2008, when he succeeded Doug Potter.

Scott Pierce

Before Pierce’s tenure at Westosha Central, he served as district administrator of Jefferson School District for six years followed by 4 1/2 years with the Kenosha Unified School District and one year at Milwaukee Academy of Science, where he was the school president.

“I will be 71 this summer after 45 plus years in education,” Pierce said. “It is time to move onto my next career, whatever that may be.”

He said with other top high school administrators retiring in the near future, Pierce believes his decision was appropriate, considering his successor will be responsible for filling the eventual vacancies.

Pierce, meanwhile, asked the board to allow him to stay through December because the district is facing budget constraints.

“Central is anticipating over an $800,000 deficit for the coming school year,” he said. “We need to find a way to minimize that deficit without having to dip into our fund reserves as little as possible.”

Declining enrollment, decreasing state aid, increasing property and high insurance increases have been the primary driving forces behind the deficit, he said.

To relieve the deficit, Pierce and school board members could examine an operational referendum, which could come in the fall.

With a budget shortfall, he said the current climate would be unfair to the district’s successor.

“I feel it would not be fair to the new administrator to be placed in a position to try and figure out the budget he/she has not been working with over the last year,” Pierce said.

“Also, the board is considering a referendum. It would be virtually impossible for a new administrator to come in early July to start that process.”

An operational referendum, according to Pierce, would be the first for the Westosha Central School District.

While he plans to retire as district administrator, Pierce plans to continue teaching part time at Cardinal Stritch University, but the rest is unknown.

“As far as any plans for myself when I leave, I am still working through that,” he said. “I teach for Cardinal Stritch University, so I hope to continue to teach part time, possibly some volunteer work yet to be identified.”


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