It didn’t take long to replace David Ewald as South Milwaukee School District superintendent.
A little over a month after Ewald announced his retirement, the School Board looked in-house to hire Dr. Rita Olson as its new leader.
Dr. Olson has served as the district’s director of instruction the past six years after spending more than 20 years in a variety of roles, ranging from German and French teacher to elementary principal. Learn more on the School District website.
Dr. Olson certainly has her work cut out for her.
The district also released its 2010-11 budget assumptions this week, and it’s not pretty.
The district is facing structural deficit of more than $900,000 this year after already having reuced staffing, programs and individual budgets by more than $6 million since the 2003-04 school year. Learn more here.
Of particular note in the document: The district is aiming to reduce its projected salary and benefit increases from $1.2 million to $600,000, but only if approved by the distict’s five unions and non-represented personnel. That certainly won’t be easy.
Without the $600,000 reduction, the district will have to consider a number of significant changes and cuts, including increasing student and athlete fees and eliminating orchestra, the high school golf team and a variety of teacher positions.
Congratulations, Dr. Olson. I don’t envy the tough decisions ahead of you.
South Milwaukee Blog 
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