By Heather Graves
Editor
DE PERE – De Pere’s new top guy, Christopher Thompson, has one week under his belt and said he’s excited to build on what retiring Superintendent Ben Villarruel built – “strong schools providing a quality education.”
“I have a lot of respect for Ben,” he said. “Ben did an amazing job with the De Pere School District. What I am looking for is how can I continue to support the endeavors that Ben has been championing this entire time? Then looking to continue his legacy, but continue to grow in new ways where I think it would help the district to do so.”
Background
Thompson grew up in South Milwaukee, a suburb in the lower part of Milwaukee County.
After high school, he attended St. Norbert College (SNC) where he majored in music, vocal and general music education, history and broadfield social science.
“I was able to teach all of those,” he said.
While attending SNC, Thompson said he became very involved in the De Pere community.
He started his education career as the high school choir director and music department chairperson for the Oak Creek-Franklin Joint School District in Milwaukee County, where he stayed for nine years.
During that time, he obtained his master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in education focusing on administrative leadership and instruction.
Shortly after, he did his post-graduate coursework in instructional leadership at Cardinal Stritch University.
Thompson’s next role took him to the Racine School District where he served in multiple roles over his 12 years there, including as the executive director of curriculum and instruction.
During this time, Thompson earned his doctorate in education from Edgewood College in Madison.
He started his first administrator position in March 2019 with the Rosholt School District.
“The opportunity then came to come to De Pere, and I liked the idea of coming back to where it all started, where I went to college – that was such a giant draw, a pull for me,” he said. “So, I interviewed and luckily got the job.”
His first month
Thompson said he and Villarruel began preparing for the transition shortly after he was announced as the district’s next superintendent.
“Ben and I started to transition six months ago,” he said. “I’ve been in the district pretty much since February, at least two to three days per month – getting to know different members of our De Pere community.”
Thompson said his first few weeks in the role are being spent familiarizing himself with the people and processes that make up the De Pere School District and community.
“The first month I’m really looking to learn as much as I can,” he said. “I would say even for the first 100 days, it’s about learning, figuring out where the district is at. What does it all mean? Where do I fit in with all of that?”
Thompson said he’s also been taking a look at the district’s mission statement, which talks about partnering with families in the community.
“Now I’m starting to look at those partnerships,” he said. “Where do we have opportunities to continue to grow them and (talk about how) we want to provide that educational edge. I’ve spoken of that, but you can never take that for granted. You got to keep looking at every single opportunity and ask yourself – Where can we continue to help it evolve, so that keeps that edge going for here?”
Thompson said the focus of it all is helping create successful citizens.
“How do we make it so that our students will continue to be successful and help the De Pere community grow?” he said. “And so what I’m doing is taking a look at everything through those lenses right now and saying, ‘How are we doing it, where is there still continued possibility for growth and improvement?’ And that’s what I’m up to right now.”
Thompson said as he adjusts to his role within the district, he centers his thinking around how the De Pere School District can be a district for all students.
“How are we making certain that we’re meeting every student’s needs?” he said. “That’s the key with what we’re doing here in our district right now. And I can honestly say, having been in education for 25 years now, that’s the concept that you’re always working toward. If you can say that you’ve done everything you can do for that, then you’ve done your job at the end of the day.”
Thompson said as superintendent, it’s his job to provide support.
“Using the office of the superintendent to help support the schools, helping the teachers do what they do,” he said, “and really supporting the principal as they help their teachers do what they do.”
Thompson said one of the biggest obstacles for districts is learning loss caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and finding the right solutions to help address that.
“I think the biggest challenge right now, is that learning was lost for a good chunk of a year where there was not the type of environment that parents, children and teachers are most used to,” he said. “So, it’s continuing to identify where those gaps are and provide the necessary instruction to respond so that the students can pick up and be at grade level right away, or as soon as possible. That continues to be the biggest deal with the pandemic.”
Readjusting to De Pere
Thompson said the quaint-like feel of De Pere was one of the selling points for him.
“I really liked the fact that it’s an established community,” he said. “It’s a community that knows who they are and what they want to be. They pride themselves on having strong schools providing a quality education for their children… It’s really quite dynamic, and that attracted me because I want to be part of something like that. I want to make certain that community continues to grow and prosper and be successful.”
Thompson said he and his family are looking forward to making a home in the Northeast Wisconsin area.
“(Diane and I) have been married for 25 years,” he said. “I met my wife at St. Norbert in choir, no less, at church. We have one son and he is right now in his senior year of college himself at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.”
Thompson said they have already been getting involved.
“We’re already members of the Green Bay Botanical Garden,” he said. “I haven’t been to Bay Beach in a really long time, so I’m looking forward to doing that. We enjoy being close to Door County. My family spent quite a bit of time up there, so getting up there when I can. I’m looking forward to going out on the Fox River. I’ve never had an opportunity to do it in my life and I’m wanting to do that sometime.”
Thompson said he welcomes questions, comments and dialogue with members of the De Pere School District community and encourages folks to reach out at any time.