1st Place, Follow-Up News Coverage
2021-22, Division 3-5, News Writing
By Aidan Naughton
The Squall
Dexter HS
As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, schools across the state have been short staffed and needed to fill gaps in staffing. In the middle of the staffing crisis, Superintendent Dr. Chris Timmis found his version of a solution by moving staff around and creating new job positions.
In mid-November, Timmis sent out his usual bi-monthly superintendent update and this bomb-shell update was a surprise to the people who were not involved in the staffing changes.
The lengthy email focused on the staffing issue within Dexter Community Schools and new administrative roles. The biggest surprise, however, was in relation to Dexter High School Assistant Principal Ken Koenig leaving DHS at the end of January to become the interim Principal at Mill Creek; longtime Mill Creek Principal Jami Bronson announced her retirement effective the end of January.
“As it was a difficult decision to make because I have spent 21 years at DHS as a teacher and administrator, I am quite excited for the opportunity to lead the staff and students at Mill Creek,” Koenig said in an email to The Squall.
Will the interim principal position become full-time for Koenig? After all, he was one of the final four candidates for the DHS principal position last spring.
“As far as the interim label, I intend to put all efforts toward making Mill Creek the great middle school it has been known as,” Koenig said. “It will be tough to fill the shoes of Ms. Bronson, as she is a tremendous leader in her building, our district, and in the field of education in the state of Michigan. With that said, I am up to the challenge and look forward to working with the younger students in our district.”
Replacing Koenig is just the first of many administrative changes. DHS’ new assistant principal, on an interim basis at first, will be David Teddy. Teddy is currently the Director of Com-munity Education and former Jenkins Early Childhood Learning Center (August 2017-August 2021).
Teddy got his start at DHS as a science teacher 9-10 years ago and left the high school for Community Education after the 2016-17 school year.
“I certainly miss the classroom at times, but I love administrative roles, too,” Teddy said in an interview with The Squall. “So I’m looking forward to this level up here and being around high school kids again. That’s what I’m really looking forward to.”
In just her first year as DHS Principal, Melanie Nowak has been in the middle of all the shuffling. She does not see it as a bad thing, however, noting the strengths of both Koenig and Teddy and how it is likely to make DCS and even better district.
“Going to Mill Creek is an awesome opportunity for him and the district as a whole,” Nowak said. “It a great opportunity for Mr. Koenig to be the lead principal in a building and lead the way he wants to lead it even though we do things here as a team in the high school. …And now that I have work so closely with Mr. Koenig, having him at Mill Creek, the bridge be-tween Mill Creek and the high school is going to be amazing.”
She feels the same excitement for Teddy moving into the interim assistant principal position.
“I know he’s going to be a great addition to the high school and do a phenomenal job as well,” Nowak said. “I am so confident in him and his abilities here, and I am so confident in Mr. Koenig over at Mill Creek. It’s going to be awesome for both of them.”
Of the three principals at Dexter High School in the be-ginning of 2020-21 school year through now, there is only one remaining: Assistant Principal Karen Walls.
“I have had the privilege of working with great leaders: Mr. Moran, Mr. Koenig, and this year, Ms. Nowak,” Walls said to The Squall. “I looked forward to working with Mr. Teddy and having him as a part of the DHS Administrative Team. I know that change is inevitable, and I look forward to this change as it gives me an opportunity to work with another team member.”
While many within the district were surprised with having Moran and Koenig leave DHS within a year of each other, Walls was not exactly shocked.
“Having worked with Mr. Mo-ran for quite some time, I knew going into the 2019-20 school year that he would be retiring soon,” Walls said. “He had quite an impressive career in education, and he was growing ready to retire and partake in activities he enjoyed, including being a grandpa. Similarly, Ms. Bronson has spent her life’s work in education, and eventually I knew she would retire.
“I do not think I could have predicted Mr. Koenig moving into the Interim Principal role at Mill Creek, but I have no doubt he will be a great fit.”
Furthermore, long-time Principal Craig McCalla will be stepping away as the Anchor Elementary Principal by becoming the district’s first Principal of Operations. In this role, McCalla will oversee how the remaining $3 million from the Series One 2017 bond will be spent.
“This includes essential projects like completing lingering punch-list items, pool repairs, bleachers, updating the CPA technology, boilers, water heaters, parking lot projects, and a list of high-priority projects that were part of the 2017 bond,” Timmis wrote in his email.
For the district to begin spending Series Two money – an approximate $17 million – the district must first spend the remaining $3 million from Series One. Mc-Calla will also be in charge of recruiting and maintaining staff, specifically support staff – an issue previously addressed by The Squall.
Lastly, McCalla will oversee the Building and Grounds Department along with the Transportation Department. Through these tasks, McCalla will work with both departments closely to create new methods for “cleaning buildings, transporting students, and providing other services.”
“This will require time and focus to look at every aspect of our organization to help us find new models to meet the needs of our students, families, and staff,” Timmis said. “There’s always the fear that saying ‘another plan’ means privatizing services. We will not be privatizing services.”
Since McCalla will become the Principal of Operations, newly hired Beacon Principal Brooke Stidham will pursue the Leadership Principal for both Beacon and Anchor Elementary School. The intent of this position is to have one main principal for both buildings since they are connected.
In addition to this elementary position, there will be an assistant elementary principal position. At the moment, Katie Heikkila will serve as the interim assistant principal for the elementary schools. Heikkila has a broad background within Dexter Community Schools. For in-stance, Heikkila has taught special education for elementary and middle school students, she has taught at the Dexter Alternative Education, she has led the Dexter Early Middle College Program, and she created the Dread Strong Summer Program that took place this past summer.
“Her background with programming from our youngest learners to our oldest learners, from special education to general education, and from traditional buildings to alternative education buildings is extremely unique and we’re for-tunate to have Mrs. Heikkila at DCS to help us with our youngest learners,” Timmis said.
With Koenig no longer holding the Alternative Education Principal position and Heikkila no longer leading the Early Middle College, Lauren Thompson will take over both duties. Thompson is currently the part-time Creekside Assistant Principal and part-time Graduation Coach.
Thompson will be continuing to be the part-time Creekside Assistant Principal, but she will have “teach-ing and principal leadership roles with Dexter Alternative Education and Dexter Early Middle College.”
As a result, Shelly Rychener, a social worker at DHS, will become the Graduation Coach and will also support Alternative Education Students. Abby Holland, DHS Special Education Department Chair, will serve as the special education liaison between DHS, Alternative Education, and Dexter Early Middle College while continuing her leadership and teaching roles at DHS.
NW-03. Follow-Up News Coverage
News coverage that follows up on a story previously published by the media program. There should be more detail and explanation of what has been learned since the original story broke.
Judging Criteria
- Expands upon breaking news or previous news coverage when more facts are available or a whole proper story can be written
- Clarifies the news elements, i.e. timeliness, nearness, impact and prominence
- Clarifies through research the background necessary to understand current news
- Shows thorough reporting skills; develops an understanding of the issues/problems through interviews with varied and balanced sources
- Avoids personal opinion unless properly attributed
- Sentences, paragraphs of varied length, written clearly, concisely and vividly
- Effective use of facts/quotes gathered predominantly from primary sources. Secondary sources, if used, are cited appropriately.
- Proper diction/grammar; use of third person