Sevastopol Principal Shefchik Resigns

The Sevastopol School Board accepted the resignation of grade 7 – 12 principal Ron Shefchik at its meeting Feb. 23.

Sevastopol Administrator Steve Cromell said that Shefchik’s decision was reached through a mutual understanding with the school.

“We decided mutually that it might be best,” Cromell said. “We’re getting smaller, and we’re not sure how we’ll be structured in the future. Ron worked hard here for three years.”

Shefchik had no comment on his resignation. Shefchik will serve through the end of the school year as principal and athletic director. Tim Newton, Sevastopol’s middle school math teach, has been hired to take over as athletic director next year.

When Shefchik joined the district three years ago the school’s high school enrollment was 240 students, but enrollment is dropping drastically. Incoming classes hover around 40 students, and the high school enrollment is projected to be 160 – 170 within three or four years.

Cromell said an ad will be placed on Wisconsinjobs.gov, as well as in local media outlets, for the position. He hopes to have a new principal in place before the year is over.

Sevastopol’s declining enrollment is a driving force behind staffing and budget decisions. It’s likely the district will have to continue going to referendum to maintain services, as state aid will drop. Gibraltar Area Schools has long been in the same boat.

“Right now we’re in fairly good shape,” Cromell said. “We’re looking to downsize our operations as enrollment declines, but we’re doing so first through attrition.”

The drop in enrollment is dramatic according to Cromell.

“At one time we had 60 – 80 students per class, but we expect to stabilize around 40 in the coming years.”

Though open enrollment has played a small part in the drop, the main reason Cromell cited is family size.

“You used to have three to four kids per family, now you only see one or two,” he said.

Cromell said Sevastopol isn’t seeing many families and students leave the district due to open enrollment. Rather, when families move into the district from Sturgeon Bay after their children start attending school there, the family tends to keep their kids enrolled in Sturgeon Bay for continuity. They often move into the Sevastopol district to take advantage of lower tax rates.

Gibraltar and Sevastopol are both members of the Fair Aid Coalition, a group of about 40 small Wisconsin school districts that get little or no equalized aid from the state. That coalition is lobbying for a little more kickback from sales tax revenues.

“We’re asking for them to just give us back something minimal, $300 – $400 per student.” For Sevastopol, that would mean a total of $240,000 for operating costs.

The argument falls on deaf ears in good economic times, and Cromell said he doesn’t expect any sympathy in today’s harsh times.

“There is not going to be a change in the school funding formula in this economy,” he said. “But it’s good for us to talk about what would help.”