Christy Zierer to serve as Greenwood Elementary principal

By Valorie Brecht Greenwood Elementary School students will have a new face there to greet them in the morning come next school year. At the May 8 meeting, the Greenwood School Board approved hiring Christy Zierer as the elementary principal for the 2024-25 school year.

Zierer will fill the role being vacated by Shane Lilly, who in January announced his resignation upon the conclusion of the 2023-24 school year.

Zierer comes to Greenwood from the Prentice School District, where she has spent more than two-and-a-half decades, with the majority of that time spent teaching elementary students and this past year teaching middle and high school English.

Zierer is used to a rural, small town lifestyle, having grown up on a small dairy farm in Catawba with her parents and four sisters.

“As you can imagine, there were plenty of chores to do, teaching me the value of hard work. When I wasn’t doing chores, I gravitated towards horseback riding and hanging out by the creek,” wrote Zierer in an email. “In high school, I knew I wanted to help others. I battled between getting a degree as a social worker or an educator. I actually started college going for a social worker degree, but switched once I realized being a teacher would allow me to have a greater capacity to help children.”

Zierer earned her bachelor’s degree in education for grades 1-8 from UW-River Falls and her master’s degree in general education from Viterbo University in 2008. She received further instruction through the Educate-WI program of Saint Mary’s University in Winona, Minn., earning her director of curriculum degree and principal degrees from that institution.

As part of earning her bachelor’s degree, Zierer spent time student-teaching in Minneapolis, including at an arts magnet school and a diverse downtown school. After that, she went to Prentice.

“It is hard to believe, but I have taught for 26 years. I taught all subject areas in the lower grades for almost all those years. Recently, I have been teaching reading to middle school students and English to high schoolers. Due to the district’s needs, I have been fortunate to experience teaching various students, ranging from first to 11th graders. This experience and raising my children have allowed me to see firsthand how students progress as they age,” Zierer wrote. Along with working directly with children, Zierer has also served in leadership roles, including mentoring and helping coach younger teachers. She’s written grants for multiple grade levels and served on the school improvement committee. She also has been part of a group of CESA 9 leaders who meet periodically, bring back the information they learn to their school’s staff, and set goals for their school.

As she’s grown as an educator and enjoyed collaborating with fellow educators, seeking an administrative position seemed like the next logical step in her career.

“Over the years, my life has become so intertwined with my career that I can’t imagine doing anything else. I have loved helping children learn and working with families. Becoming a principal was a natural fit at this point in my career, allowing me to make a difference on a larger scale,” wrote Zierer.

As a principal, Zierer anticipates doing more mentoring and empowering teachers to improve their practice.

“I like helping teachers advance themselves and foster what works for them, because everyone is different and what works for one might not work for another. I really enjoy helping to draw out what works for each one, seeing how they grow and how their confidence level goes up,” she said. “I want to create a team or collaborative atmosphere where we’re all working together.”

She is excited to get to know Greenwood and be part of the community.

“As I was looking for job openings, I saw the Greenwood posting. I remember enjoying my time there with my boyfriend, now husband. Greenwood is a delightful, community-oriented small town similar to where I grew up. Between the drive to my interview and interactions throughout the process, the fondness of what I remember Greenwood being was still there. Between the familiarity and welcoming sentiment, it feels like a perfect match.

“I am really looking forward to being part of an amazing team. It is great how the community and school work together to give our children the best they can.”

Zierer married her husband in 1998 and they have three children, ages 17-22.

She will officially begin as principal on July 1.

Christy Zierer