The complete interview with Superintendent Mark Holzman can be found at the bottom of this page.
The Manitowoc Public School District is undergoing some major changes.
The three most tenured members of the Board of Education were voted out on Tuesday, and now, Superintendent Mark Holzman has accepted an offer to become the Superintendent for the Janesville School District after spending 7 years with the MPSD.
We spoke with Holzman shortly after his announcement, and he explained that the people in Janesville actually pursued him and that he was not actively looking to leave.
“There’s a search firm that they hired that reached out,” he explained. “That’s not uncommon in Superintendent positions, executive positions across the state. I’ve been tapped on the shoulder before and looked at different opportunities. This is just one that I went through the interview process for.”
It’s no secret that the three new members of the Board of Education were not fans of what was happening in the school district, and members of the public had also become quite vocal in their displeasure as well.
We asked Holzman if those factors had any role in him deciding to take the offer.
“I think that my interest in exploring the opportunity in Janesville was about me and what’s the best fit for myself professionally and my family,” he stated. “It’s not easy when people are criticizing, but that is part of the role and responsibility, and that is not something that tipped the scale one way or the other when I was looking into this opportunity.”
We asked Holzman if he believes the MPSD will be in good hands after he leaves at the end of the school year.
“The Superintendent is the vision and the leader of the district, but we have 750-800 great employees that will continue to serve the students in their daily operations,” he explained.
He did admit that the school board is rather “new in terms of Board roles and responsibilities, so it will take a little bit of growing to get everybody up to speed” but said that he is “confident that they will do everything they can to help support the students every day.”
As far as the memories he will take with him, Holzman said, “It is the people that I work with every single day that makes this job great…We have done a lot of great things over the years and look forward to continuing to do some great things with the new leadership.”
Holzman will remain with the MPSD through the end of this school year, while the new Board members will assume their roles on April 26th.
