The Hillsboro School Board decided Feb. 23 on who would fill the newly created co-principal position for the middle school and high school next year.

Hillsboro Superintendent Curt Bisarek said the board voted, 5-2,  during a closed session to hire Middle School teacher Chris Koopman as co-principal.

The district had intended to announce the hiring during its regular monthly meeting one week prior, on Feb. 16. However, the Board tabled the motion to approve hiring for the new position, which it approved at its December meeting, until the special meeting.

Bisarek said a second round of interviews with Koopman and Hillsboro High School social studies teacher Bob Bothe was held during the closed session because not all Board members were present for the initial interviews Feb. 1 and 3. The interviews were scheduled around a snowstorm which hit the area Feb. 2.

The third finalist for the job was Tom Fischer, principal at Kewauskum Elementary School in eastern Wisconsin, near West Bend.

Koopman, a 2002 graduate of Viterbo University in La Crosse, began his Hillsboro teaching career 12 years ago, working in the middle/high school’s special education department.  For the last five years, he has served as the middle school’s English/language arts teacher.

He received his master’s degree from the University of Platteville in 2011, and recently returned to Viterbo to pursue an administrator’s license.

In addition to his teaching duties, Koopman also serves in two advisory positions: leadership advisor for Grade 8 and class advisor for Grade 7. He also coaches the junior varsity boys’ basketball team.

In September, current middle/high school Principal Greg Zimmerman announced his resignation, which will take effect at the end of the school year.