EARLY – Dr. Dewayne Wilkins began his duties as superintendent of the Early ISD on July 1, and much of his initial work has been centered around formulating a plan for students to return to school safely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wilkins, who most recently served as superintendent at the Gordon ISD, shared some details of the Early ISD back-to-school plan during a Wednesday morning interview.

“We’re ready to get kids in the building, that’s going to be a huge highlight,” Wilkins said. “We’ve sent out a survey and we have a lot of parents who are excited to get their kids back in school. We are going to offer two options – a face-to-face option and we’re going to offer a remote option for those who choose to go that route. We want everybody to support each other no matter what decision they make.”

Regarding the monumental task of comprising the COVID-19 era school plans immediately after beginning the job, Wilkins said, “We spent weeks working on a plan and every week that plan kept changing. We finally said ‘hey we’re going to stick with this plan,’ but it’s still changing.

“The best thing we can ask from people is just patience and grace. This is such a difficult time to make a concrete decision and it’s tough on every superintendent. We’re going to try to do our best to give these kids a traditional and normal looking school year because they deserve that. Every thing we do, every decision we make we try to base it around how we can best make this fit a normal idea of school.”

Of all the challenges for Wilkins, perhaps the greatest is implementing the remote learning program.

“The major difference this year is offering a remote option, which is new to everybody,” Wilkins said. “A lot of people don’t understand the remote learning is going to be very rigorous, the TEA has lined that out for us. You’re going to have assignments in those classes every day just like an in-person student will. You will be checked on daily, you will have to have daily student engagement.”

For those who attend class in person, Early ISD will be following the state mandate by Gov. Greg Abbot requiring masks for students ages 10 and up.

“The governor mandated masks, but there’s rules with it,” Wilkins said. “We are following those rules, and we’re going to do that at school. If you can’t social distance we’re going to ask that you put your mask on. But we obviously know there are times it will be difficult and we’re going to be reasonable and use common sense and function as normally as possible.”

Another aspect related to COVID-19 that’s missing from taking over as superintendent at a new school district is the lack of interaction with the public.

“When you come in as a new superintendent you want to have meet and greet sessions and hold community forums and meet people, talk to people, and get out and go see business owners,” Wilkins said. “You enjoy going to campuses and seeing the parents come in and out. But it’s a different time now so all that goes out the window. People see us and meet us now by social media, by videos we put out, messages we put out, and news articles. This is new territory for everybody and it’s constantly changing.”

Wilkins is replacing the retired Wes Beck and was selected from 40 candidates for the job of Early ISD superintendent. A 1996 graduate of Andrews High School, Wilkins earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting, then earned a master’s degree in educational leadership from Lamar. He later earned a doctorate in educational leadership from Texas Tech.

Wilkins began his career in teaching and coaching at Eagle Mountain Saginaw followed by a stop in Tolar before he returned to his alma mater in Andrews for five years. After obtaining a doctorate at Texas Tech, he accepted the position of superintendent in Gordon.

Wilkins’ father was a coach and several members of his family have backgrounds in education.

“I was destined to be in education,” Wilkins said. “Education has always pulled at me. I like helping people and in this profession I get to help people and see people succeed every day. That’s the great thing about this profession, we’re always working toward people succeeding.”

Wilkins and his wife Katie have two children, seventh-grader Johnna and fifth-grader Brayson.

Regarding the lure of Early ISD, Wilkins said, “Early is a top tier school, always has been. It has a rich history of being academically excellent. For me personally, I have two children that are going to be in the district, so that means a lot to me.

“Education guides our future. When you have a great public education foundation, it paves the way for college and your professional career. When I saw this district was open, I knew this was the place. It’s an academically great district and the community prides itself on holding that standard that we are going to be academically excellent. When the community supports the rigor of the curriculum and what you’re pushing out, it’s just awesome.”

As for the long-term future of Early ISD under Wilkins, he said, “I want to see Early ISD go to greater heights. I want to open doors that we never thought we’d open. People ask me all the time what things are going to look like in the future and I don’t know the answer to that question. We all have speculation but I think this is going to change a few things in the future. Districts like us, we’re going to take it and embrace it and it’s going to make us better. Early already has a foundation of long-term vision and we’re just building on that now. Mr. Beck brought the district to great heights and I’m just hoping I can pick up from there and keep going forward.”