WAUPUN — After 23 years as physical education teacher and volleyball coach, Keith Milkowski needed a new challenge. The Waupun Area School Board chose Milkowski as the best fit for the new activity director position, a combination of athletic director and activity coordinator for the larger 7-12 student body.
"I'm already at 90 percent of the activities anyway, so it's a natural fit," Milkowski said.
The position is a full-time job that calls for Milkowski to schedule events, encourage student participation, monitor student eligibility, coordinate usability of facilities and improve sportsmanship and school spirit.
"When we have someone who can devote full time to the job, they can focus on school spirit and community involvement," Principal Jeff Finstad said. "The focus will help the programs grow."
Finstad said that there are 19 varsity male and female sports at WASD, which requires 400 events to be scheduled, including officials and transportation plans. Those numbers do not include the junior varsity, freshman or junior high athletic events. The activity director also schedules activities for all clubs, organizations and academic activities, including music performances, drama productions and fundraising events.
The position of athletic director was previously held by Assistant Principal Jeff Sauer.
"From my standpoint, this should free up the assistant principal to be a full time assistant principal," Finstad said. "We added 21 new staff to the building with the addition of junior high students. In order to help the staff improve and do their jobs more effectively, we need to have thorough teacher observations."
Finstad said that when Sauer was also serving as athletic director, he was not allowed to evaluate staff, leaving the teacher observations up to Finstad, a role he didn't mind taking on alone. The task becomes larger this year as more staff fill the building and changes are made associated with the restructuring of the district.
The creation of the activity director position was first looked at earlier this spring during the restructuring planning. Candidates were sought internally.
"It's an incredible job," Finstad said. "The challenge to Keith is to get more students involved. Our student participation percentage is slightly below average."
Milkowski will be the face of the WASD athletic program.
"I'm excited about it," Milkowski said. "I enjoy all sports. With having an athletic background and coaching and playing experience, athletics are my top interest. But I'm interested in getting kids involved. Studies show that when kids are in extra curricular activities they succeed at higher levels. It should make the school experience a better place for all students."
dharris@capitalnewspapers.com