Luxemburg-Casco Intermediate School Principal Jolene Hussong hopes you miss her as much as her Goldendoodle Elsie when she retires at the end of the school year. Hussong will say goodbye to Luxemburg-Casco Intermediate School after two decades at the helm. She came to the district after more than a decade of education experience at schools in the Howard-Suamico area.

During her tenure, Hussong helped the intermediate school improve its test scores over the last decade improving from a cumulative test score of 73.5 in 2011-2012 to 95.0 in 2020-2021. The building has received the state's highest rating on the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s school report cards each of the last six school years. Maybe even more important to Hussong than the test scores that have been achieved are relationships that have been fostered over time. Hussong says when she arrived in Luxemburg for the 2003-2004 school year, the teachers and administrators were not close with each other as they are now. Her relationship with staff members and students became very evident in 2018 following the passing of her previous dog. It led Luxemburg-Casco School District to employ a therapy dog program at its building while Hussong was able to fill a void in her heart with Elsie.

There is no counting down the days for Hussong, who says she is working to make sure the days count.

Hussong will enjoy retirement, but she does not plan on disappearing from the field entirely. Along with helping in the transition of her successor, Heather Mleziva, she hopes to take on a mentoring role with other education leaders in the area. Don’t worry: she also plans on bringing Elsie to school occasionally to say hi to students and staff members as well.