Swanson Principal Retires After "Gratifying" Career

Anne Kreul quietly packed up her office at Swanson Elementary School on the first full day of summer. After 32 years as an educator, she will officially retire on Thursday at the place where she has been principal for the past 17 years.

School was open, but not in session. In the dim light of the building, it was just Kreul and one of the two school’s administrative assistants, Rusty Wilson, doing what must be done to close out the school year and to prepare for the next.

“Parents are coming in to register their children and picking up report cards,” Kreul said as she greets a visitor with a hug and a welcoming smile.

She will be missed by the students, the parents and her colleagues. “She has been an outstanding principal,” said Wilson, who has worked with Kreul for the last 17 years. “Anne is all about child-first.”

That’s just the kind of description a parent wants to hear about an elementary school principal.

“I think my counselor background has helped me look for the best in people. I’m good listener, a planner and problem solver,” she said of the attributes that have made her an outstanding principal.

“We are servant leaders. It’s our responsibility to make this atmosphere the best for student learning," she said. "We are a high achieving district with high expectations from the community and parents. It’s our goal to do the best job every day.”

Originally from the Fox Valley, Kreul can’t remember a time she didn’t want to be a teacher. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh, she began her career as a physical education teacher. Soon she became a guidance counselor. It was a counselor who saw the qualities of a principal in Kreul and encouraged her to return to school for her master’s degree in education administration. Kreul was a principal in the Muskego School District before coming into the Elmbrook School District.

“This is a wonderful place to work,” Kreul said. “Coming in in the morning and seeing children who are happy to be here. Everyone wants to do well in school. We want them to be successful and enjoy the challenges, to be motivated and to take advantage of opportunities.”

Children pass through schools all the time leaving behind teachers. For an educator, that’s all part of teaching. For the students, when the educator leaves, it means change to their otherwise structured and safe world. It can be difficult to accept. “Students have asked me not to leave,” Kreul said. “It’s very bittersweet.”

Last December Kreul officially notified the district of her plans to retire this June. “I knew last fall that it was time.” Kreul’s husband Philip Jaeger has been retired for two years.

“We’ll have some new adventures ahead of us," she said. "But for right now I want to stop and breathe. School people are highly calendarized. I want to take a minute. Take stock. There is volunteering and reading and getting fit....”

Although Kreul is not a mother, she has thousands of children who have passed through these halls. “I’ve been invited to the last five graduations at Brookfield Central to see my former students graduate,” she said. “It’s been very gratifying.”

Kreul has enjoyed the challenges that come with administrating a school of 625 students and a staff of 100. “We have a wonderfully diverse student population,” she said. “We have students who are English-language students and students who know no English at all.”

Kreul’s school day has two versions: the calendar-version and “the actual,” she said. Filling in as a substitute teacher, monitoring the school bus, attending planning and budget meetings, meeting with parents, attending plays and concerts, mentoring other educators and even conducting a kids yoga class can become a part of her day at a moment’s notice.

She said good bye to her students at the end of the school year and, of course, will miss seeing them every day. She’s proud of their awareness of the broader world around them.

“The students come up with proposals on how to raise money for charities and causes, like Caps for Kids and donating fleece blankets for patients on the cancer floor at Children’s Hospital or raising funds for the Hoan Bridge,” she said. “I’ll miss the kids doing things for others.”

Hiring smart, intuitive, resourceful people from the teachers to the administrative and custodial staff has made life easier, she said. “It all works together. You pull one little piece out and it changes things.”

She is proud to have had a staff that rose to the challenge of every academic need; and feels it was her role to make sure there were resources to meet the different needs of the entire school, whether it was to find funding or support teachers in extending their craft.

A successful school is all about teacher leadership, she said. “We are here to help children achieve and to give them the right tools to move forward. It all starts here.”

Starting here was exactly what Kreul did. She was a part of Swanson Elementary School from the beginning. In 1993, the small building on Calhoun Road was a multi-purpose facility restructured into an elementary school. Kreul helped win community support for a referendum to expand and remodel Swanson. She was a steady hand in 2004 when residents voted down a developer's proposal to buy Swanson and build a replacement school at a new site. Over the years Kreul has served on a number of district committees and community boards.

“I’m proud to have been a part of establishing this school and what it’s meant to the community,” she said. “It’s been a joy watching it grow and develop and to sustain its high standards. The challenge for the future will involve smart planning and using resources wisely and differently.”

Now, that challenge will fall squarely on the shoulders of Kori Hartman, Swanson’s new principal for the 2011-12 school year.