Manitowoc Public School’s next superintendent is looking forward to taking the job at a place he loves.
Lee Thennes spoke with SeehaferNews.com after the announcement from the school district, saying that he was grateful and humbled to be given the opportunity to take the role and for the support of the school board.
One of the first things the district will be working on is borrowing $25 million for immediate structural improvements at different schools.
The district has been meeting with Baird, a financial services company, to see what the best strategy is to borrow the money.
“We’re going to have a recommendation for that,” he stated. “That will come and be presented at our May 1st Finance and Facilities Committee Meeting. With that, we will be looking to bring it to the full board on June 9th to really just approve that strategy that we’ll use in borrowing.”
The district is also working on what projects to do this summer.
Besides the facility work, Thennes says he wants to get the three new school board members ready and hear from the school board about what priorities they want to see done.
“First thing we have to do is get everybody on board with a shared vision for the district,” he explained. “Once we have that, we’ll start organizing each of those big rocks (ideas) into 100-day plans where the directors, the principals, and I will orchestrate those plans to move us forward.”
In the future, Thennes wants to make sure the 2025-26 school year goes smoothly but also wants to make sure that all students learn and grow so they can move onto the next step.
The new superintendent also explained that time in school is more than just reading, writing, and arithmetic.
Thennes told us, “We’re here to teach them how to be good, engaged community members, creative problem solvers, effective communicators. And really building the kids confidence in their learning is a huge priority because you have to believe in yourself.”
Thennes was picked out of a panel of three other candidates who applied for the superintendent job.
He was appointed as the interim superintendent last year after Jim Feil resigned.
