Ellenbecker takes on Marathon assistant role
After numerous discussions about adding an assistant principal position to Marathon’s elementary and middle school staff roster, a familiar face has been hired for the job.
Connor Ellenbecker, who has taught in the district for the last six years, was chosen out of 19 applicants to become the assistant principal for Marathon Area Elementary School and Marathon Venture Academy. An Athens native, Ellenbecker found himself looking forward to a leadership role, but did not want to leave the Marathon district. Luckily, the creation of the job came shortly after he had finished up his masters degree.
“I had no intentions of going anywhere else,” Ellenbecker said. “This is a great district to work in.”
After receiving his undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Ellenbecker came to the Marathon School District as a student teacher. As his time came to a close, a teaching position for a science/agriculture role was opened after a staff member retired. Ellenbecker was chosen to fill it and “the rest is history,” he said.
While teaching at the high school, Ellenbecker himself went back to class in the summer of 2021 to receive his masters degree. He had become more interested in pursuing a leadership role and knew his career path would pull him that way.
Recently, district officials began conversations about the increasing workload for one principal at MAES/ MVA, ultimately deciding in June to post the job announcement for an assistant principal. According to District Administrator Rick Parks, research shows that the best results are having one administrator per 250 students within a school. There are over 500 students at the MAES/MVA building.
“I believe the most significant benefit for our district is having the position to help our students and families,” Parks wrote in an email. “… Though each of our applicants would have brought their own experiences and strengths to the position, we will benefit by having someone who already knows our district, many of the families and has taught a section for our MVA, so he comes with experience with expeditionary learning.” Ellenbecker also sees the years he spent teaching in Marathon as an advantage in his new role. Although he was primarily educating high schoolers, he interacted with MVA students through agriculture instruction that they would receive at the high school. Additionally, for the last two summers, Ellenbecker worked as a summer school principal, gaining experience with different students and mastering tasks like scheduling and coordinating staff. In his role as the agriculture teacher, Ellenbecker was also the FFA advisor, which helped him build relationships with community members and area businesses.
Working alongside MAES/MVA Principal Max Wienke, who is also a new hire this year, Ellenbecker said the pair of administrators has a framework for how duties will get split up, although they know it will change as they adjust to the jobs. Ellenbecker said currently his role is leaning more toward working with MVA students, but most of it is sharing the usual administrator tasks, such as answering parent phone calls, providing communication and setting schedules.
Overall, Ellenbecker is grateful to be able to continue to grow within the Marathon district.
“As teachers, we enjoy leading our students,” Ellenbecker said. “Now I can lead more students and the staff who are leading students. I’m really looking forward to being able to stay in the district and work with the whole student body.”
