Sauer’s return receives praise

WEBUTUCK — Rehiring former Webutuck High School principal Ken Sauer was perhaps the most controversial move the North East Central School District’s Board of Education (BOE) made this year.Following a flurry of criticism from teachers, parents and students shortly before the 2010-11 school year started, the board voted 6-1 to rehire a principal who, even by the accounts of board members who voted in favor of rehiring him, had issues regarding an aggressive management style toward staff and students.The decision to bring back Sauer was largely part of the board’s goal to return a sense of discipline and school spirit to the school. Sauer was Webutuck High School’s principal between 2004 and 2007 and even if he hadn’t been the most popular, BOE Trustee Joe Matteo acknowledged at the time the school had been a different place with him there, and better for it.That was nearly nine months ago. Since the string of highly attended board meetings leading up to Sauer’s rehire, no further criticism or complaints have been made public at board meetings, and interviews with representatives from the board, school and community all indicate that the board’s gamble in rehiring Sauer paid off.“He is a breath of fresh air here,” school board President Dale Culver said. While Culver stood up for those who made their concerns public about Sauer prior to the board’s decision to rehire, he said that he believed then, and still believes today, that the board made “the right choice.”“There is an energy and willingness to reach out and put forth the extra effort, all the time, that has made him an important cog at Webutuck,” he said.“It’s been positive,” said Nancy Gagne, president of the Webutuck Teachers Association, the union representing teaching staff in the district. She said that Sauer’s presence in the hallways during the day and his interactions with staff and students bring a “more positive atmosphere” that had been missing from the school before he was brought back.“Time has certainly gone by, and we’re all different people,” she said, clarifying that she had never had any issues with him during his first tenure as principal but that there have been no negative reports that she is aware of since his return.Sauer himself politely declined to be interviewed for this story.The lone voice of dissent on the Board of Education when the board voted to rehire Sauer, Casey Swift, said that “as of right now, everything he’s done has been an improvement. There’s nothing negative I can say.”Same goes for Heidi Dean, who along with her daughter, Jenifer (now a high school student), had a fair amount of criticism for Sauer before he was rehired. She described the principal’s second tenure at Webutuck as “a dramatic change.“He takes an interest in students now,” she said. “He greets them when they come in, he talks to them and I feel like he’s putting himself out there, which he didn’t do before.”Dean said that, in retrospect, she felt bad about “jumping on the bandwagon” to criticize the decision to bring him back, and said that her daughter, Jenifer, did as well. After talking to her daughter, and “an array of kids at school, including ones who did and still get in trouble there,” her perspective has changed. She said she was glad that the string of articles covering the controversy behind Sauer’s return wouldn’t be the definitive coverage of the issue. Jenifer, her mother said, went so far as to write Sauer a letter of apology.“There’s a feeling of consequence if something happens now at Webutuck,” she said, “that wasn’t there before.”Both Gagne and Dean pointed out Sauer’s new habit of greeting students in the hallways as they get off and on the buses every day as a positive addition to the school.“It’s good energy for the building,” Gagne said. “He’s out and about all the time, in contact with the kids. And that’s the most important thing when you’re dealing with upper-class students.”“He’s not going to be running a prison system,” Dean said, while pointing out that there should be, and is, an appropriate system in place to deal with misbehavior.“Jenifer is a good kid, and she doesn’t get in trouble, but there are still kids who test the limits,” she added. “However, they understand that there are consequences and I’ve heard them say that he is fair. The kids respect him, and I think that’s going to do Webutuck a lot of good.”

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