Greenwood administrator moving on to next career challenge

Greenwood School District Administrator Todd Felhofer feels as if he’s accomplished what he set out to do in his current position. With that, he’ll start his next career challenge in Shell Lake this summer.

Felhofer submitted his resignation to the Greenwood District Board of Education in March and will finish out the current school year that ends June 30. After that, he’ll be the next superintendent in Shell Lake, a bit larger district, and an area where he thinks he and his wife may want to settle into retirement someday.

Felhofer has been Greenwood’s administrator/high school principal for the last seven years. For five of those years, he’s worked closely with elementary principal Joe Green, whom the Board has already tabbed as Felhofer’s replacement. The district is now taking applications for someone to succeed Green in the elementary school.

Felhofer said he has been discussing possible succession plans with the Board for some time now, so his resignation came as no surprise. The Shell Lake opportunity is one Felhofer said suits him well as he seeks a new career challenge.

“It was an excellent opportunity for me and my career,” he said.

Felhofer came to Greenwood from Marshfield, where he had been principal at Lincoln Elementary School. Before that, he taught in Mukwonago and Whitefish Bay.

In Greenwood, Felhofer said he took on a job that had changed hands among several predecessors. Stability was something the Board in place at the time stressed it wanted in its next superintendent. Communication between administration and staff was another.

Felhofer said he was hired to “shore things up a little bit, and I think I’ve done that.

“I think I accomplished what I was brought in to accomplish. I’m moving on because I felt for myself, I needed to be challenged.”

There surely were challenges over the past seven years, with the COVID-19 pandemic chief among them. Like others, the district shut its school down in March 2020 for the rest of the year, and then reopened the following year in fits and starts. At one point near the holidays in 2020, it had to keep students at home for a while to calm another outbreak of illness.

“The kids were in and out and in and out,” he said, as quarantines were put in effect. “The biggest challenge was having kids out of school so often. We learned a lot from that.”

Felhofer said he was impressed with the support the school received from parents. Even though there were some tense moments over mask mandates and other details of the pandemic plan, he said people were understanding of what needed to be done.

“I think our community was wonderful. They didn’t love it, but they kind of worked with it,” Felhofer said.

Felhofer said he’s handing over to Green a district that is in sound shape. Its facilities have been maintained, and he and the Board have completed upgrades such as an elementary outdoor classroom building, tennis courts and baseball field. New bleachers are to be installed in the west gymnasium this summer.

The district passed a revenue cap exemption referendum in 2020 and has a few years left on it before it will consider its next financial moves. Things beyond Greenwood’s control may be the most worrisome. “I think the bigger concern is going to be the next biennial budget. That’ll be a concern,” Felhofer said. Another issue the district is likely to face is continuing difficulty in finding staff members, especially those who want to come to a small, rural district.

“Like it is everywhere, being able to hire and retain quality staff is really a big concern,” he said.

Greenwood has been a positive step in his career path, Felhofer said. From the time he arrived following a period of “a lot of upheaval” seven years ago, he said he’s tried to improve communication, keep the district’s academic standards high, and leave the district better than when he arrived.

“I will always look back at my time here in Greenwood with fondness,” he said. “This has been a good place to be. I think I brought some stability and I think I got things back on a good footing.”

Todd Felhofer