Phillips takes over as new Superintendent at Drummond
DRUMMOND – The Trojans have always been known in the field of competition, be it on the gridiron, the court, or speeding around a track.
But as Dean Phillips steps into his role as the new Superintendent of Drummond Schools, he sees challenges and opportunities that lie ahead that make him excited to get started.
“It’s always been on my radar to return to the classroom or become a school leader. This opportunity just happened to come along a little sooner than I originally planned. I started my career in education when I attended Washington State University where I obtained a degree in teaching history and broadfield social studies at the secondary level. I wanted to stay in western Montana because of my love for the outdoors. I ended up teaching in two different rural schools and obtaining my elementary education degree and taught for fourteen years. I then stepped out of the classroom to start a company with a friend called Beyond the Chalk. We traveled around the state and country where we led teachers who were making changes in their schools and classrooms with the use of technology and helped those teachers successfully implement those tools in their schools. I had the opportunity to meet with leadership teams and school boards across the country to help create and reach their visions of making their school better. I feel this experience will help me implement some of those ideas closer to home. The constant travel had me missing out on many things my own family was doing.”
“I’m not going to come in and change everything they’re doing, but I do hope to advocate for our school community to think about education not as it has been the last 50 years, but where it is headed in the future. What can we do to motivate, engage, and attract students to come to school and get the tools they need to be successful?” ~ Dean Phillips
After coaching track this past spring, he became increasingly aware that the desire to work with kids and as a school leader was where he wanted to head in the future. “I view the school leadership role as one of challenge and one of opportunity. I really enjoyed what I have been doing for the past twelve years, but I felt it wasn’t challenging me enough….since July 1st I have had a new challenge every day, whether it be hitting a sewer line or hiring an English teacher.
“I’m not going to come in and change everything they’re doing, but I do hope to advocate for our school community to think about education not as it has been the last 50 years, but where it is headed in the future. What can we do to motivate, engage, and attract students to come to school and get the tools they need to be successful?”
One area that Phillips sees as an opportunity for growth is in Career & Technology Education (CTE).
“The focus a lot of times is that all kids need to go to college and that leaves a lot of students out. I hope to also focus on how to engage those kids who do not necessarily want to be college bound. How do we make our CTE programs a little more robust and get them certificates that make them job ready even before they leave Drummond High School while also helping college bound students to be ready for their futures as well?”
Phillips noted that the pandemic opened the conversation to the belief that there may be a new or better way of doing things. “COVID showed everyone that we can be successful doing things in a different way to reach learners in different environments,” he added.
Phillips has already started looking at new ways of incorporating different, more current subject matter into the curriculum. He started by approaching Darcy Schindler about teaching STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) classes where students will learn on a ‘problem-solving’ basis, using specific tools and resources to develop a solution. “I asked the school board during the interview process what their hope or goals were for the school, and one response that stood out to me was that they’d like to see Drummond known for something more than just athletics. While I am a huge fan of athletics, I think that is a great goal to work to achieve. Why not be known for it all?” But all of those kinds of expansion take money. And while it’s not growing on trees anywhere locally, Phillips is determined to use the budget wisely while looking for ways to increase the operating budget so that the investment made in the education of our young people will be successful.
