In early July, when the start of the 2023-24 school year was still weeks away and teachers, administrators, students, and parents alike weren’t even thinking about being back in a classroom, Heath Wright’s thoughts were on Dyess Elementary School.

Sure, there were thoughts of a South Padre Island vacation with his wife and young daughter and pool time with his family. There was also a lawnmower that needed to be repaired and a nap here and there that needed to be taken.

But for the man about to enter his first year as the principal at Dyess Elementary, there was also business to conduct. Hiring teachers and aides. Meeting with Dyess Air Force Base leadership. Touring the base’s facilities where Dyess Elementary students spend their time after the school day ends.

All that to say, this hasn’t been a normal summer for Wright or his family since it was announced May 26 that Wright would be the new principal at Dyess, replacing Janaye Wideman, the district’s new Director of Assessment and Accountability.

“This summer has been a little bit of a whirlwind,” said Wright, who spent the previous two school years as an assistant principal at Abilene High School. “I’ve spent as much time as possible working with the staff, trying to connect with them, and meeting and connecting with as many of our parents as possible.”

Part of familiarizing himself with the campus has also been familiarizing himself with Dyess AFB, the district’s partner on the campus since the school opened its doors in 1958.

“This campus is almost 60 percent military-based children, and the kids and parents face all kinds of stressors that other kids in our district don’t face,” Wright said. “They’re worried about deployments or PCS (Permanent Change of Station) or other things that most of us don’t have to deal with, making their stay here a bit more complicated. But I want to find the right avenues to reach them where they feel welcome and supported and connect them to our campus and community as quickly as possible.”

One of the ways that Wright himself has been connecting to the Dyess community is by learning about the history of the campus and some of its unique traditions. Alan Jones – who did his student teaching at Dyess Elementary School more than 25 years ago – has been the music teacher at Dyess since 2018 and spent time in the spring helping Wright learn about some of those traditions.

“Right off the bat, Alan told me about the ‘I Love America’ presentation, which has such great history on this campus,” Wright said. “And we have other special days that celebrate our country and our campus connection to the base, which are great ways for our students and staff to celebrate. It’s exciting to be part of a campus with such strong traditions and so well-respected by the base community.”

Wright has also spent some time thinking about his goals for the campus, and while excellent instruction is always at the top of the list, he had other thoughts on how to make that happen.

“Our campus motto is ‘Grow Together,’ ” he said. “We can do that by building relationships with each other, with the parents, community, and base personnel. We have to have a shared mission: to support our students in growing toward success. As we go through the year, we keep that as our focus with our stakeholders, and if we do that, we can all grow together.”