Partnership Principal

Bill Hittman

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     Bill Hittman had been a superintendent for 17 years before he became principal of Wisconsin’s LakeView Technology Academy. Now he’s found he’s closer to the action and enjoying seeing growth in both teachers and students.

      “I could certainly make things happen as a superintendent, but now I’m directly impacting kids,” he explains. “I can make something happen that is really sustainable in working to transform this school. My biggest pleasure is watching our teachers grow not just as teachers but also personally.”

     Hittman had a diverse professional career before coming to Lake View. Upon graduation, he began in business and industry, then worked as a tech ed teacher, assistant principal, program administrator, business manager before becoming a superintendent.

     “I returned to school to work on my doctorate and was recruited to come here (the Kenosha Unified School District) for another position. Eventually, I was talked into applying for the principalship at LakeView, and now I love it.”

     However, the start of his career as a principal in 2002 wasn’t “a picnic.” He found a school that lacked focus, had ineffective teachers, and lacked academic rigor. Scores on the state test were the worst among county schools.

     Since then he and his staff have transformed the public choice school into a challenging academic setting where teachers collaborate and graduates can enter major engineering colleges as second semester freshmen. Enrollment has grown from 161 students in 2002 to 353 today. And test scores are the best among high schools in the three surrounding counties.

     The academic program focuses on three areas of study: automated manufacturing systems, information technology systems, and pre-engineering. LakeView has created affiliations with Gateway Technical College and Marquette University’s College of Engineering.

     “When we moved toward a more rigorous curriculum, we met with all students and their parents and told them that school was going to become more difficult,” Hittman recalls.

     Juniors and seniors at LakeView are able to take a number of courses at Gateway and can earn college credit while still in high school. Upon graduation they can receive credit for one year of a two-year associate degree or one semester in an engineering university.

     Students also benefit from the nationally recognized Project Lead the Way, a pre-engineering program in which about 2000 plus high schools across the country participate. It features such courses as principles of engineering, digital electronics, aerospace engineering, and biotechnical engineering among others; and the curriculum was designed with input from some of the nation’s top engineering universities.

     Hittman’s leadership includes a great deal of work with the 18 teachers and counselor on his staff, 15 of which he has hired.

     “We are embracing Professional Learning Communities at LakeView, and we take this very seriously,” he says. “We know that while doctors practice medicine, their product is healing. We practice teaching, but our product is learning.”

     Each teacher has time every day to collaborate with other teachers and to intervene with students who need extra help. And the school is focusing on data analysis to see how well individual students are learning and working on a common assessments across the school and across the district. Teachers also play a role in curriculum development although Hittman believes that the best curriculum is created when multiple sources are used for its design, including professional associations and college and university personnel, along with his own teachers.

     “We are also encouraging teachers to learn from their colleagues. Too many teachers want to be their own little island, but that can’t occur in successful Professional Learning Communities. We want teachers to see if their colleagues have ideas or strategies that they can incorporate into their classrooms.”

     While curriculum has become more rigorous, test scores have improved and enrollment has increased, LakeView still has challenges, one of which is bringing more girls into the school. Currently, only one of five LakeView students is female, and the school is embarking on a recruitment program to attracting more. Counselors and administrators are meeting with diverse groups such as Girl Scout troops, parochial schools, middle schools, and parents to discuss the benefits of an engineering high school for girls.

     Hittman calls The Principals’ Partnership “the best resource principals can ever have.”

     “I didn’t have anything like this when I was a superintendent,” he recalls. “The speakers and meetings are superb and the Web site has a great deal to offer. All the high school principals in Kenosha talk about the benefits of The Partnership all the time.”

     More information about LakeView Technology Academy can be found at http://lakeview.kusd.edu/ and Hittman can be contacted at [email protected].

  
Past Focus Principals:

Focus- Jeanene Sampson
Focus- David Gilligan
Focus - Joy Walton
Focus- William Roberts
Focus- Franklyn Wesley
Focus- Magdalena Gutierrez
Focus- Kent Bergum
Focus- William "Rick" Johnson
Focus- Ken Ball
Focus- Dan Tenuta
Focus- Charlesetta Deason
Focus- Rene Posey
Focus- Stuart Baker
Focus- Paul Smith
Focus- Christie Gestvang
Focus- John A. Butterfield
Focus- Janie Hill Hatton
Focus- Steve Warmack
Focus- Glen Clark
Focus- Kittie D. Weston-Knauer
Focus- William Dunn
Focus - Richard Pemberton
Focus- Dr. Anthony Spivey
Focus - John Weigel