Kaiser hopes to move school district forward at Boyceville
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NICK KAISER
By Amber Hayden
BOYCEVILLE — For former Tiffany Creek Elementary principal Nick Kaiser, the move to superintendent was one of ease thanks to Kevin Sipple showing him the ropes.
“I talked to Kevin about if this was something I would want to do,” Kaiser explained. “He encouraged me to be a part of the process.”
Kaiser moved into the Boyceville District in 2007 when he became the principal at TCE. Before that, he taught kindergarten at St. Croix Central explaining that he always enjoyed being part of the leadership committees when he was teaching.
When the opportunity to move to Boyceville came, it was an easy decision for him and his wife, Jennifer, to pack up their three children, Montanna, Alexa, and Grant, as their oldest was just going in to kindergarten.
“When this position opened up it was a good move professionally and for my family,” Kaiser stated. “In life opportunities come along and you have to decide to take that step and or you don’t, and this was a good step for me.”
Kaiser understands that there is more challenge as he steps into the role of being the superintendent for Boyceville, including the state budget, enrollment, and just attempting to keep everything moving forward.
Becoming superintendent has it’s challenges, according to Kaiser, but it also has a lot of rewards.
“I value education, and I enjoy being an educator,” said Kaiser. “And this is just another step of being more involved as an educator, not just the classroom or building side. But the business side of it too.”
When Kaiser decided to take the leap from principal to superintendent, his family was behind him 100 percent, although he thought his daughter Montanna, who is a senior this year, would be a little more reserved about him being in the same building as her.
His son, Grant, thinks it is a great thing because now he no longer has to get a hold of him at the elementary building.
“I think he thinks he can just pop in now,” Kaiser said. “That’s what I think he is thinking.”
As Kaiser moves forward to the beginning of the 2019-20 school year, he knows that planning ahead on items such as maintenance will make things runs smoothly instead of getting caught off guard.
“When you don’t deal with it day to day, such as dealing with vendors or contractors,” he explained. “It won’t work going into those meetings. I was very appreciative of the information Mr. Sipple was able to give me, which helped me decide that it was something I could handle.”
His plans for the future are simple: provide the best opportunities for the kids in the district that gives them a good education and prepares them for life outside of Boyceville. With the hopes that one day the students will return to the community they grew up.
Like all districts, Boyceville also faces challenges, such as the budget and enrollment as well as new ways to improve their programs they offer students and their families.
“I think you worry about everything now,” he stated. “I don’t just worry about the one building, but I now worry about all the buildings in the district as well as the kids.”
The biggest thing for Kaiser is making sure the district is looking at all of their systems and plans to make sure things are up-to-date, he said, and if there are areas that need attention then making sure the improvements are made.
Kaiser officially took over the role of superintendent on July 1, and with that saw a new principal taking his spot at Tiffany Creek Elementary by the name of Andy Hoeppner.
“We are very excited that Andy is with us,” Kaiser stated. “He brings a lot of experience with him to the job, and we are looking forward to using that and helping move our progress forward.”
Hoeppner has spent the last five years in Saudi Arabia as an educator with an international school, and previous to that he worked in Stillwater and New Richmond.
Kaiser can only imagine how hard it would be in his new role as superintendent and the district if he were new to the community, explaining how knowing people gives him a sense of comfort.
“Not having history or background with the people here would make things difficult,” he explained. “Coming in on the first inservice day and saying okay here I am and now I have to go through and establish relationships with everyone in the schools and community.”
Kaiser’s belief is that he has big shoes to fill in regards to Mr. Sipple, but it isn’t just his job to fill them but to also move forward and pick up where Sipple left off.
“Obviously I don’t want to be a status quo person, but someone who keeps pushing us forward,” Kaiser stated.
