St. Michael-Albertville School District Readies for Transition

For the second time in a decade, St. Michael-Albertville schools will see a transition at the top.

Jim Behle, who arrived last summer from Iowa, will move from the assistant superintendent position into the district's top position. He said he'll bring a focus on educational achievement to the position. 

He'll replace current Superintendent Marcia Ziegler, who, after 10 years in the position, is retiring. The transition isn't official yet – Ziegler still has to resign in front of the District No. 885 School Board – but Ziegler told St. Michael Patch this would be her last year at an interview in November. Behle was brought in to begin the transition this year.

"I came in much the same way," Ziegler said. "When Mario [DeMatteis] had decided he was going to step aside, the board approved me as assistant superintendent to work with him that final year. It makes the transition much easier for the person coming in."

When it happens, Ziegler's resignation will close the book on a period of unprecedented growth in St. Michael-Albertville schools. The district doubled in size from the the turn of the century to know, with 2,206 students at the start of the 1999-2000 school year to 5,093 students last year. It added two elementary schools, a high school that ranks in the top five largest statewide, and converted the old high school to a middle school.

"In 10 years we've done more than $226 million in bonding," Ziegler said. "That's more than Elk River has done, and that's a district that is much larger than St. Michael-Albertville. Every building in our district has seen renovation or remodeling. And three of the buildings are completely new."

Ziegler received some criticism for the expansion, especially from longtime St. Michael residents who wondered how so much change could happen so quickly.

It wasn't something the schools were exactly expecting, Ziegler said. The residential growth in St. Michael and Albertville, with more than 200 housing starts in both communities in some years, was unprecedented. Yet, even with all of the capital improvements made to keep up with new students, the district is still near capacity. 

"We prepared our district for the future with the high school. If you look at our grade school levels, you can see that we will be closer to that 2,000 student threshold {the maximum population the building would hold]in the new building soon," Ziegler said. 

Enter Behle, who joined the district in July. The Iowa City associate superintendent of schools left after more than three decades there and was excited with what he saw when he arrived here.

"It's been a great fit. To its credit, the district has dealt with all of the changes of the last 15 years or so very well," he said. "The board has been a consistent asset to this community.  My wife and I are very excited about how the move here has gone."

As assistant superintendent, Behle has been focused on human resource policies that might been neglected as the district was busy building, remodeling, realigning and staffing schools.

"There are teachers and administrators who haven't submitted job descriptions for the past nine years. That's something we needed to update," Ziegler said. "We've been running thinner, at the top than most districts in our area and our size. So some things were just set on the back burner."

The district and new superintendent will have even bigger challenges ahead. The 2011 state Legislature must address a $6.2 billion deficit and cuts to K-12 education are on the table this time around.

"Finances will be the biggest question mark, certainly," Behle said. "What, if any, impact will we see? Will there be cuts? We won't know until spring."

After that, the district will work to renew a levy which expires in 2014 that provides operating dollars from district taxpayers.

The district will continue to improve its curriculum, Behle said, looking to increase student achievement scores.

"We've improved a lot over the last few years in the classroom," Ziegler said. "We want to continue to build on that." 

As for Ziegler, who is "old enough to retire," she said, having reached the so-called Rule of 90 (the combination of age and years of service allowing teachers to receive full retirement), she won't be far away.

"My husband and I are active here. We like the area, and we have family here," she said, referring to her grown children. "I'll be around, for sure."