Mark J. Carlson won’t start his official duties as West Salem High School principal until later in August, but he got his first taste of his new duties Thursday when he cheered on the Panthers at their state tournament baseball game, which they lost in an extra-inning heartbreaker.

“I thought they played well,” Carlson said. “It was fun to watch.”

The West Salem School Board picked Carlson to take over as high school principal at a special meeting July 29.

Carlson, who has been principal at Stanley-Boyd High School since 2003, was one of 24 applicants for the opening created when Principal Troy Gunderson landed the superintendent position in the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau School District.

The decision for Carlson was unanimous by both the school board and the selection committee that included staff members from the high school.

Student representatives to the board Brian Kenter and Leigha Blank also were part of the process. “We asked them their opinion on who we should hire,” said school board President Errol Kindschy. “I think that was kind of neat because we’d never done that before.”

West Salem schools Superintendent Nancy Burns said she was excited to work with Carlson. “He is the leader we need in West Salem. He is a man of high integrity and student focused,” she said

“I think he’s going to be very much like Troy,” Kindschy said. “I was really pleased with the whole thing.”

One thing that really impressed Kindschy was when Carlson was asked about the role of bus drivers, cooks, custodians and other non-teaching staff should be. “He said they’re a vital part of it. They need to be caring, smiling people and not ignore students in the hall.”

Carlson grew up in Algona, Iowa, and after he graduated from Algona High School in 1979, he wasn’t quite sure what his career path would be when he started his college studies at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

While at SMU, he got involved in tutoring inner-city children and he found it so rewarding that he decided to go into education.

The son of a Lutheran minister, Carlson completed his undergraduate work at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D. He started his education career in 1984 as a high school social studies teacher in Des Moines, Iowa, and also worked in Wapello, Iowa, and Wisconsin Dells before becoming principal at Stanley-Boyd, earning a master’s degree along the way in 1994 from Drake University in Des Moines.

Carlson said he was drawn to this area of western Wisconsin when searching for a new position and really liked what he discovered when he looked into the West Salem School District. “The more I learned about the district, the more I wanted to be there for what the school represents,” he said. “I think there’s a commitment to excellence and tremendous support from the community.”

Carlson’s approach to dealing with students is pretty straightforward. “The main thing in working with kids is just being understanding and having clear expectations,” he said. “You listen and you talk and you spend time but you still maintain those expectations. ... If they don’t behave, then you deal with it.”

Kindschy said he was impressed with how active Carlson was outside of his school work in Stanley-Boyd. “He wants to be a part of the community,” Kindschy said. “He’s a joiner.”

In Stanley, Carlson was the school district liaison to the business association, was vice president of the Our Savior’s Lutheran Church Council and was a committee member for the American Cancer Society Relay for Life.

Carlson will have a 240-day contract, with a starting pay of $85,000 and a moving allowance of $1,000. He and his wife of 17 years, Jeanette, 12-year-old son Asher and 9-year-old daughter Aunna camped last weekend at Veterans Memorial Park just west of West Salem and started getting to know the area.

“We’re very excited about the opportunity,” Carlson said. “My intention is just to come in and do a lot of listening and get to know people and have people get to know me.”

Contact Randy Erickson at randy.erickson@lee.net or 786-6812.