The Township High School District 214 school board named Gordon Sisson, the principal of a Wisconsin high school, John Hersey High School’s next principal.
Sisson, current principal of Marshfield High School in Marshfield, Wis., will succeed Tina Cantrell when she retires at the end of the school year.
Sisson began his education career by teaching English at Marshfield Junior High School in 1978 before teaching English and alternative education at Marshfield High School. He later became assistant principal at Grant Elementary School in Marshfield and was promoted to Marshfield High School assistant principal in 2002. He was finally named principal six years later.
Sisson introduced Professional Learning Communities to Marshfield High School, then to the district. This initiative led to revamping grading practices, crafting specific learning targets and creating interventions to increase student learning.
College and career readiness also have increased, and the average ACT score has risen a full point for two years. While Sisson was principal, the Washington Post named Marshfield High School the top high school in Wisconsin.
“I am honored, humbled, and absolutely ecstatic to become John Hersey High School’s next principal,” Sisson said in a release. “Hersey is an extraordinary high school, and this is a phenomenal opportunity to lead a school that is totally focused upon student learning.
Sisson sits on the Marshfield YMCA and the Wisconsin State Music Association boards. He also has served on the Norwood Mental Health Hospital Human Rights Committee, the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Advisory Council, and the Kiwanis Club of Marshfield.
Cantrell was named principal of Hersey High School seven years ago. She won the Innovative Educator Award from the Illinois Principal’s Association in 2011 for bringing Mandarin Chinese courses to the district.
