First of all, it has been an amazing honor serving Davis County as middle school principal. I have spent the last nine years as an administrator and I can honestly say that I have not been part of a school or school system that is more student centered. This coming school year marks my 18th year in education - I started my teaching career in Ottumwa, Iowa where I taught biology, anatomy, and advanced anatomy for six years at the high school. I also coached football and track during that time. In 2010 I accepted a job at West Branch Middle School teaching middle school science and coaching track and football. In late July of 2013 I accepted the assistant high school principal position in Keokuk and that's where I spent my first four years as an administrator.

My wife Natalie is an Ottumwa High School graduate and she is an educator as well - she most recently has been teaching and subbing for Davis County High School. We have a ten year old daughter Carigan who is in 4th grade.

My philosophy in education is pretty simple - we accomplish our goals and our mission of being the very best we can be through our collective commitments to one another and our team work; growing students is our business and it takes great people and great teams to accomplish our mission. As teams, we hold one another mutually accountable to see that all students, yes all students, succeed by bringing data to the table and helping one another become the best professional educators we can be. We never stop growing as educators and it is imperative that we continue to grow and model that love and passion for lifelong learning with our students.

I am a very passionate professional educator and I truly believe that there is no other profession quite like education where we can literally change the world one relationship and coversation at a time. We change the world through our mutual accountability and our inter-dependency on one another as a professional learning team.

Vision and Values: Who am I?

I am a student-centered individual who expects excellence in all things. Schools need to create an environment which fosters academic, physical, and social development by emphasizing the importance of collaboration, hard work, respect, and responsibility. The following values have shaped who I am as a leader and will continue to drive who I am as a learner.

Relationships First: I truly believe that building relationships is the most important piece to a successful school. Healthy adult-adult relationships, adult-student relationships, and student-student relationships are a critical component in a culture of success.

Collaboration and Teamwork: I am a collaborative innovator who excels under pressure and enjoys working with a variety of stakeholders to maximize student growth and development. Instructional leadership is grounded in culture and trust. I am a true and firm believer that we accomplish our goals together as an instructional team through our team work.

Favorite Quotes:

“If we ask which is the greatest generation of educators America has ever produced and we answer the question based on evidence, the answer is irrefutably clear. No generation of American educators has ever accomplished what our teachers and administrators are achieving today” - Rick DuFour

“Great educators never forget that it is people, not programs, that determine the quality of a school” – Todd Whitaker

“It is teachers who have created positive teacher-student relationships that are more likely to have the above average effects on student achievement” – John Hattie

Call to Arms! - "When a school or District functions as a Professional Learning Community, educators within the organization embrace high levels of learning for ALL students as both the reason the organization exists and the fundamental responsibility of those who work within it." - Dufour, Dufour, Eaker, Many & Mattos. Learning By DOING (2016)