John Cotton Dana, an American Museum and Library Director once said, “Who dares to teach must never cease to learn”. This is exactly why I am excited to be part of the Brown Deer School District Administrative team. I have been a lifelong learner and am passionate about education. A day doesn’t go by where I am not learning something new and I bring what I learn to the community, staff and students at Brown Deer Elementary School. Brown Deer supports and builds lifelong learning with their staff and students - this is why I love being part of this team.
I am excited to be part of the continued evolution of change that takes place in education. It may be a challenge, but we should be excited about the challenges that we encounter with change. My pride continues as I am part of a community that takes such pride and dedication in educating their children and are willing to support our mission and vision to ensure the learning environment is engaging and safe.
I am proud and excited to be part of this school district and look forward to continuing my collaboration with the community, students and staff as one of the Assistant Principals at Brown Deer Elementary School.
BACKGROUND
Mr. Nies started his career as a Television News Reporter for an ABC affiliate. He enjoyed working with video and writing scripts so joined the Marketing Department of the Menards Corporation where he produced training videos and commercials. An opportunity arose for him to become the Marketing Director of an organization in Brookfield, WI. During this time, he would train people throughout the country through webcasts, in-person and through videos. He enjoyed working with people and educating them so he decided to change careers and go into education.
Mr. Nies has two graduate degrees from Cardinal Stritch University. One in Teaching and Learning (received in 2014) and the second in Educational Leadership (received in 2016). Mr. Nies currently holds a Wisconsin Educators license for the developmental ages of birth - 12 years old and a Wisconsin Principal and Director of Instruction license.
In 2010, Mr. Nies was hired by the Brown Deer School District as a Four-year-old Kindergarten Teacher. After his first year of teaching, he had a split role of teaching four-year-old kindergarten and working with students identified as gifted and talented in mathematics. He continued this for four years. In his fifth year at Brown Deer, he was asked to be an Instructional Coach and Interventionist for the math department at Brown Deer Middle/High School. This then gave him the opportunity to interview for the open Assistant Principal position at Brown Deer Elementary School.
While working for Brown Deer Mr. Nies is also the Principal of the Summer Learning Program. He has helped revamp the program to include high interest courses (sign language, gardening, clothing and textiles, music, physical education, business and arts and crafts) as well as focus the academics on areas of need demonstrated by the students on our district assessments.
Mr. Nies is also a Co-Facilitator for the Brookhill Foundation, which is an organization that supports the development of Mathematical Literacy by offering teachers professional development throughout the state of Wisconsin. Mr. Nies co-facilitates on the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics with an emphasis on the Kindergarten through Second grade Numbers and Operation in Base Ten standards as well as the Kindergarten through Second grade Operations and Algebraic Thinking standards. Mr. Nies has done this in Greendale, Middleton, Holmen and Superior.
Mr. Nies has an open door to his office so please feel free to stop in and speak with him.
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