In this episode of Cool Coffee with Kansas principals, host Rick Sola interviews Principal Eric Filippi, the principal of Wichita Heights High School. They discuss Eric's journey from student to principal, the importance of building relationships with students, and innovative programs implemented at Wichita Heights. Eric shares insights on community engagement, the significance of alumni connections, and advice for new administrators, emphasizing self-care and teamwork in educational leadership.
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FULL Episode Transcript (AI generated)
Hello and welcome to Cool Coffee with Kansas principals. I'm here today with principal Eric Filippi, proud principal of Wichita Heights High School, USD 259, home of the Falcons. And Eric is also Wichita Heights alumni from the class of 1992. Eric, welcome.
Thank you, thank you, appreciate you having me.
Yeah, glad to have you on today. we were just talking before hitting record here, principal Eric Filippi, but you said everybody calls you flip.
Everybody calls me Flip, everyone except for my mom and my wife. So from our superintendent, everyone, it's always Flip.
Well, I appreciate the heads up on that and the permission to call you flip on here. like I said, glad to have you on. So you are one of now a growing list of principals coming onto this show that have been recommended by somebody else in the state, which is really awesome. And so I appreciate you responding when I reached out. And it's cool to have people on here that.
have been recommended. So I don't know if you want to thank that person or if you want to blame that person, however you're viewing this right now.
I will absolutely, Mr. Shelf will absolutely get some recommendations from me for sure. So no, I appreciate that he thought of me when you, he was in one of your sessions, I believe at a conference. And I appreciate that he thought of me that I'd have some information that somebody might find useful.
Yeah, no, and like I said, I'm excited to have you on and we are recording this. It's January 21st and we have had a really mild winter and I'm assuming down in Wichita, it's kind of like up here in Kansas City area. We haven't had a snow day yet this year, but we are on the cusp of some major action going on here in a couple of days, kind of off the outline of topics here, but what's it looking like for you in Wichita?
Well, the conversation that I literally had before I turned on our computer here, it was the weather for the weekend. We're trying to get our girls wrestling tournament. So we have an Olathe school that was supposed to be coming down and we have liberal coming in. And so right now we're trying to get that shifted to if we can get that shifted to Friday and try to get it in on Friday before the Saturday weather really hits.
you know, anywhere from 5 to 13 inches, which is absolutely crazy that those are the numbers that we get. But yeah, we're looking, we're looking for some definitely cold weather and it's a kind of a, a crap shoot as far as what the precipitation will be at this point.
Yeah, I don't think we're quite as high on what we're supposed to receive, but certainly cold and that number of of snow seems to keep growing every time I look at it. So we shall see, and we'll see if it's a timing thing that hits the school days or not. That is something you just hit on it, like big wrestling tournament. And every time a snow day comes in, and I've got kids in my house, and they're so super excited about the idea of a snow day. And there's times I'm thinking, you don't know the havoc that that
this Reek Sunday school calendar and all the events that we have going on.
Absolutely, and then when you when you get into the getting things rescheduled and you know, it's just everything's packed in there so tight and spring is really obviously spring is really bad with you know track meets and and you have to get those certain things in before state competition and and regionals and and then pressing up against graduations. But man snow days. They were always awesome growing up, but as an adult now.
You know, that still has to come into the building on a snow day to make sure there's broken or busted water pipes and that the building's secure. That's always a good time as well.
Yeah, and at the high school level, just like you mentioned, liberal Kansas, Olathe, Wichita, you got all over the state and you're trying to reschedule that. You don't just do that. That's a lot of coordinating there. Well, good luck out there and I hope it's minimal, but we'll see. It's not looking so great.
Yeah, no, it's you know, worst case scenario. They allow it to happen, but then we can't get the referees, you know, so that's it's gonna. It's going to be interesting. So yes, I definitely hope we're going to go. There's a lot of state champions and state placers that are going to be at this tournament, so it's going to be a lot of fun.
Well, Eric, kind of segueing in here, generally start the show with the road to the chair. And you're currently at Wichita Heights High School as principal. You started as a student there. Fill in the in-between your road to the current chair you're in.
Absolutely. you know, started out 1988 here at Wichita Heights. And as a a as a freshman in high school, and it was funny that some of the some of the individuals that the well, the teachers that I had that really helped give me direction as far as getting into education or really having a life because I was single parent home.
mom did a friggin amazing job, St. Elizabeth. That's what I like to call her. she did an amazing job, but you know, if she was at work or, dealing with not dealing, but doing things with my younger sister who has spina bifida, and they would have to go to St. Louis to the shrine hospital. You know, they, gave me a lot of opportunities to, you know, get in trouble, my, myself and my older sister. And, and, when I, when I got to high school, there was,
there was a coach that, you know, grabbed me and, and, you know, said, Hey, you need to play football. And so kind of got me into athletics and got, got, got me engaged with some motivated adult males that I did not have in my life, positive male role models. And I didn't know it.
Then it wasn't until later in reflecting as far as what drew me to education and what drew me to social studies to be a history teacher was some amazing teachers slash coaches that I had that some of them were social studies, one science, but people that I say that I owe a debt to. And then, you know, that that kind of changed to me owing a debt to this building, to this school.
for what it gave me, which was a life, an opportunity to go to college. In my head, I would say I was gonna go to college, but I didn't know what it would take to get to college. And so, once I graduated from Heights High School, I went to a community college for one year, thinking that I was gonna go D1 after that. And I saw what an actual D1 athlete looks like and realized it wasn't me. And so kind of gave up on that.
gave up on that dream and then went to Wichita State University. And then at Wichita State University, I bounced around with some different ideas for different majors of things I wanted to do really wasted some time. But I found myself and what I found was somebody that really did want to be a teacher. So I got into the College of Education and my first teaching job was at Wichita North High School.
And I taught social studies at Wichita North and from there I didn't just do social studies. was also on the original site team that brought the AVID program into the state of Kansas. And I was the second AVID elective teacher in the state of Kansas. so I was able to do some academic things through AVID and work with AVID.
as a staff developer. So I would travel, get to travel the country in the summer times and deliver that instruction to other social studies teachers at first. But then once I started teaching, I really did love it. And in education, the way to get a raise, the way to get a little extra money is to go to the, get classes, get a master's degree. And so it was a kind of a conversation with my wife that
you know, I could go curriculum and instruction or, you know, get a get a administrative degree. And I decided to get administration. at the time, I really didn't think that I was going to go be a principal because of all the things that I saw them, you know, that all the stuff that the assistant principals had to do. But I was young at the time. And and, you know, some of the things that they got to do, it was exciting. It was, you know, every day was different. And then
once I got like actually into the program, I started seeing how the administrators actually help or not help, they drive the curriculum, they drive the culture of the school. And I always had a really good relationship with students in the classroom. But it was in the administrative world,
I started meeting a lot more of the little flips out there. You know, the kids that were me. And that has always been a driving force, a motivator for me to be somebody that a student can look back on one day and say, you know, hey, you know, this guy really helped change my course. So that is something that I've always tried to do. And so I taught for eight years at Wichita.
North High and then when the when I graduated with my admin degree, Wichita Southeast High School was getting ready to start the AVID program at Wichita Southeast. And so I called the principal that was going in over there. And was just hitting them up, you know, hey, just checking to see if you need anybody to help you start AVID over there and.
You know, he ended up picking me up. There's a little bit more to it than that, obviously, but in my head, that's how it went. And then Mr. Leroy Parks, who is currently the principal at Chester Lewis here in town. But I went to Wichita Southeast High School. I was an assistant principal there for six years. Then from there, I went to Wichita West High School. I was an assistant principal there for four years. And then I went to Coleman Middle School.
Absolutely loved Coleman Middle School. Went in with, there was a, principal at the time was Jeff Friend, who he and I started our teaching careers together at North High. So it was kind of crazy that they allowed the two of us to be together. So I was an assistant principal there for two years under Jeff Friend. And then I got the, the, the information that Jeff was going to
go over to a different middle school and get some things started over at that magnet and then that I was going to be named the principal at Wichita Coleman Middle School. And that was my dream job at the time. I absolutely loved it. I loved everything about that school. We were working to turn it into an environmental magnet at the time. We had bees and that was just absolutely
Absolutely an amazing experience interacting with bees. We had an apiurus that would come out, so we had our beehive. We had our commercial kitchen because it's a we we use the kitchen. It passed all the standards that we needed to do, and so we would harvest the honey and we would buy the clamshell packaging and the students would harvest the honey. They take the honeycomb, the raw honeycomb,
put it in the clamshells, weigh it, package it. You did everything, know, safe serve style, and then we would sell it. And then those funds that we raised would go towards some of the different programs that we were doing there. So absolutely was enamored with the environmental theme. And then the spring of 2020, I think we all remember that spring. I found out that the
the principal at Wichita Heights High School, which again, like you said earlier, this was my high school that I graduated from, the one that I owe the debt to. I was found out that he was going to retire from administration and he wanted to spend his last couple of years back in the classroom. And so I got a hold of the assistant superintendent at the time, told him that I was really super interested in it and
went to AMAC on, was it March 12th? March 11th, March 12th and shot my shot, big date and had a shot my shot and then he had to cut the meeting early because him and the elementary assistant soup and the superintendent was meeting with the governor about something. So they had to go, something was happening.
Yeah, that was a big date. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, what was going on then?
And so I went home and then found out later on that, oh man, she shut everything down. so later, a couple of weeks later, I got the telephone call from Mr. Alvarez and he told me that I was gonna be going to Heights High School, which was, at the time, I mean, it still is kind of a dream come true because of that debt that we talked about. But then also,
I don't know how it happened, but having a wife and my children, this is also my children's school district. so they, all of my children, my three children, they all graduated from Heights, which was for two of them that I actually got to be here with them.
for their time here. was, it was, that was absolutely amazing. So all the hours that we put in didn't feel like those hours because I was able to mix dad with being a principal and things just kind of hit differently when your, when your children are at school. So, you know, when you think, you know, this person that I'm hiring, would this be somebody that I would want to teach my child? Well, that's is going to be somebody that I'm going to have teach my child. And
It was, you know, just absolutely a phenomenal experience getting to share that because as an assistant principal, as the assistant principal, as all the administrators out there know, you know, there's so much, you know, with the nighttime activities, you know, how do you balance being dad with being a family person? How do you balance those things out? And then, you know, this was that perfect mix. So
All of my children, went Jackson Elementary, Stuckey Middle School, Heights High School, because that is their trajectory of schools. yeah, it worked out absolutely amazing to be able to be with my children at the school that I've always wanted to be at and be able to share some of those experiences with.
Yeah, there's a lot of crossover. Former social studies here, three kids. I'm currently principal at the school where my kids are passing through. Not my home school that I grew up in, but the school wasn't built when I was a kid. But it's in the neighborhood I grew up in. A lot of cool things. You had mentioned about that, I guess, when you were a classroom teacher, the relationships you had in the classroom. When you became an administrator,
How did you transition from, I'm the classroom teacher. I've got all these great relationships to be thrown into. Now you're an administrator and there's a level of skepticism some students will take just knowing the fact that you're an administrator. And if you're a brand new face and you've got that title, how was that transition for you? How did you break down the barriers of kind of building that relationship from a different angle?
Well, and it it really started and this is this is what worked for me. It started with being at the school in the summertime with the going to the new school and then because I had coached in the district, I also coached. I coached football. I coach track. So when I went to Southeast, I would talk to you know, talking to the football coach and I would go out to practices where there is summer volleyball or.
or whatever practices were taking place, weights, and I would get to know some of the students and, you know, just kind of goof around with them, I guess, in that regard. was built a little bit differently then than I was now, so I'd get on the, you know, throw some weight around with them a little bit, or one of the coaches that I...
worked with let me go out and you know long snap you know take the long snappers out so I still got to coach a little bit and do some long snapping with the kids and so I had some relationships going into the school year or at least some familiar faces that you know I was able to get a little bit of street cred or whatever and then. Living in Wichita which is you know it's a it's a good size city it's a big city but it's not that big and so.
having had some of my friends children that might be coming through the school or you know some sort of relationships. It that those are the kind of things that you know that I would work on and just you know I say street cred but that you know I'm hey this flip he's kind of a funny guy you know I mean that's a good dude man you got him upset nothing ever gets him upset you know because I genuinely do love.
I love my job. with my my why you know I I try to be as engaged as possible with the students and so to answer your question as far as how I did that you know I used athletics I you know if I see a kid with a concert t-shirt on or a band t-shirt you know somebody's wearing a sublime t-shirt you know I'll ask him about that because I did you know I used to listen to sublime.
I used to listen to some of these, but Nirvana, when I graduated high school, was, you know, smells like teen spirit. That was, that was it, you know, I mean, just anyway. So, that, that the transition, you know, I definitely felt that my, my reach was wider, which I liked. It wasn't just my kids in A through D, which was my first job. My, my alpha was A through D.
But then working with AVID and then working with at the school, I was able to not just deal with discipline, but I would try to, you know, all the positive fun things that are going on at the school. And, you know, when I had those relationships and whether it was, you know, Joe Randall at Southeast High School and watching him play and then he goes on to Oklahoma State University or
Or Albert Mack was a kid that was in my honors US two class that ended up going to Butler County for two years. And then he went to Troy university and spent seven years in the NFL, you know, but still communicating with those individuals and, and, just being a part of, you know, what's important to them in, in our communications through the day, you know? And, and so those, those are the things in athletics or plays or musicals or whatever.
Those are all things that I find very important. And so one of the things I tell our assistant principals now, you know, that when you do go to an athletic event or when you do go to a play, you know, that I want them seen, yeah, but I want them seen, I want them seen, seeing, you know, I want them interacting and.
And with the group that I have now, it's not something that you really had to, I really had to impress upon them. But don't just sit in the back of the theater on your cell phone and with the blue face, because the kids noticed that. My daughter that was in band, she had thought that one of the people that worked here at one point was a security guard. They had no clue that he was an administrator, just because there wasn't that engagement level.
And so that's those are those are things that you know, just understanding whether the kids welding or whatever, you know, especially and I'll tell the kids in the welding room, you know, I'm to end up paying you a ridiculous amount of money someday because if you put a welder in my hand, it becomes a weapon because I'll hurt myself or somebody else, you know, and that that is a skill that I do not have. And and I make sure if they're off to Skills USA that we send them off right, because it's it's it's really impressive what the students are able to do.
So you're at Wichita Heights. You are a graduate there yourself. Now you get to be there. You've seen your kids go through. And I know one of the points that Principal West brought up recommending you was flipping the tradition at Heights and the culture and the role as principal that you play, but the role you have in that tradition, maintaining it.
You can speak to it going back years, but it's just as important now and moving forward. What are some of those things that you've done at Heights that are now, it's kind of something that you've brought and you've established over the last six years.
Well, and I mean, lot of what I have are a lot of big ideas and I have, you know, I count on lot of people to help me make those ideas a reality. Cause I'm an idea man, I thrive on enthusiasm. And so, you know, there's some minutia that I guess is pretty important there as well. But one of the things that I thought was really odd when I came back to Heights was that Heights didn't have a hall of fame.
And so that was one of the things that we started five years ago. And so I got a group of alumni together and said, guys, this doesn't make sense. mean, all these names that were on the wall when I was in high school, why don't we celebrate some of these things? Because Heights has had Darnale Valentine, Antoine Carr, Aubrey Sherrod, our list of basketball McDonald's All-Americans. We've had,
judges that have come through here, artists, nationally renowned artists. And we've had all these amazing people and no Hall of Fame. So we started the Hall of Fame. And for the most part now, Antoine Carr had to do a video, but Darnell Valentine flew back to Wichita for his induction. And that was pretty awesome to...
to be able to talk to him. it's just that is one of the things that inviting our alumni back to Heights. And one of the feelings that I have, and I have it on my wall over here, one of the things that I want to do is to have a small town feel at Heights. And so our elementary school, to have a relationship with the elementary students in the elementary schools that
they want to go to Heights because that's the cool place to be. There's no other option. They're going to go to Heights because we are branded in that regard. There's no other option for them. No magnet. We want to go. And so between that and the parents wanting to send their students to Heights High School because of the academic opportunities that we offer,
And that is what we are, that is some of what I'm trying to push. so one of the things that we've done is we've also created, so we have the alumni welcomed back, but then we also started a program that we've called the Falcon Fast Track. And so with the Falcon Fast Track, that started out during the COVID shutdown time where Heights went to a four by four block. And so,
With a four by four block, the students go to four classes every day for an entire semester and then they get their entire they get their entire year's credit in that one semester. And so the district did that to cut down on the contact tracing. So we went to a four by four block and I had a buddy of mine that actually called me and he said,
Flip, my daughter just got done with Algebra 2 or she's getting ready to finish Algebra 2. Instead of going into this class second semester, can she go ahead and get her in, can we go ahead and put her into a pre-calc trig so that she doesn't have to wait an entire year before she takes math again? And so we did that and that kind of put that in my mind is, you know, how do we build our upper level math classes?
And so our jumping off point with the Falcon fast track or what ended up becoming the Falcon fast track was students that took or that have their Algebra 1 credit in elementary or in middle school. When they come to Heights that we can give them an opportunity that they could take geometry double block geometry first semester double block Algebra 2 second semester and then from their sophomore year on any math class they take its college credit bearing through.
Wichita State University. So Wichita State University would give them the three credit math class for $99. So that's where it started. So not $99 per credit hour, but $99 total. And so that started in 21-22. We started that with that first group of Fast Track kids that graduated last year that went all through the program. And I, oh shoot, I,
And you're saying Fast Track's still going.
yeah, we're still rolling with Fast Track and so. They they might have something like that, but as far as that math portion, I believe we're the only one that that offers that as a as an option as a selling point to keep our students from going to IB program at another school or going to a magnet school that we are able to offer that here and.
Are the other high schools doing this too?
So we are also able to offer 18 classes that you can get college credit from at Wichita State University, 18 courses that you can take and graduate with your, basically with your associate's degree, but you're doing it $99 per class. Well, now it's $149 total.
or $149 per class because working with Wichita State University, it was $99 for on campus here and then helping us get our teachers certified and all that so that we can do the concurrent. Then it was $200 on campus. Well, now it's just $149. If we don't have the course here, we can send them up the road to Wichita State University and then they can take it with the college peers that the students don't have to be cohorted together.
Yeah, we definitely have students that are graduating with their associates degrees and. And or or very, very close to it. And so with the cable or buckets, there are seven buckets that the Kansas Board of Regents has that if you can fill those seven buckets in high school. That that those are your prerequisites to.
Well, that's a good deal.
any major, any at any university you go to in the state of Kansas, you would have your prerequisites done here at Wichita Heights.
That's no, that sounds like a really good deal. And I can imagine that would be in a set up and it starts to get real for high school students as they get older, you start getting real credits to colleges and it starts to feel they're branching out, you know, they're approaching the real world as they say. You said something a minute ago about, you know, the importance and value you put on that relationship between your school, a high school in the elementary. And I imagine probably the middle schools.
you know, as a middle school principal, but you mainly working with families and the students, gosh, that just can't be overstated that that relationship. And it means so much when, whether it's administrators or coaches come down and that outreach, the middle school kids, they, I mean, they see that and they know that they're on the cusp of that, but that just goes so far.
And then elementary kids, I've got an elementary student myself, they just think it's really cool to see, the high school's here, you But what a positive outreach and way to really kind of build the excitement for your school and the years ahead.
That it is. It is a lot of fun and and you know when when you say that you know that the exciting aspect of it. You know when. One of our you know basketball team goes in and you know coach will take him to the middle school and you know our basketball team will watch them. You know watch one of their games or and then we invite our middle schools to come up to watch you know our athletic events as well so that they can feel that you know with the with the pet band and with the.
And even even marching band we have the date and I'm sure this is happens everywhere or a lot of places but you know we'll have the eighth graders come in that will be in marching band the following year when they get to high school and then they'll do they'll do a show with our marching band you know as when the when the players come out so they get the Friday night lights and they get you know they get all that up front to kind of get help get them excited for.
what is to come. And so that is ridiculously important in my vision and with our amazing middle school principals that we have in our feeder pattern. How can we get Heights High School in there, whether it's leadership, student mentors, or just coming in and.
talking to them about the events and what high school is like, not just academics. Because when I was in middle school, you know, it was always something, you know, when you get to high school, when you get to high school, well, let's bring some of the high school to them so they could actually have a tangible thing to grasp onto as far as what it is to be in high school.
Yeah, it builds that community and it's so positive. as we were recording this a few weeks into January, so the semester is really kind of in front of us still. What's got you excited at Wichita Heights here this semester?
Well, mean, besides besides the athletics and and you know our girls basketball team is still undefeated in six. I think we're the only undefeated 6A basketball team. have a new basketball coach that you know that that buddy that I was talking to you about earlier is not very happy with me because we're going to try to get her in the building. She is a middle school English teacher at Robinson Middle School here in town and.
You know, I told her, yeah, man, we're going to have to get her in the building and and she's just an amazing, amazing, amazing asset to whatever school she's into. But so there's absolutely the athletic athletics that go along. That's that's that's fun. Prepping for the new beginnings for the new school year, what are we going to be able to do to add to the things that we've already started? And, you know, just the.
Man, the spring semester seems to be so fast, where first semester feels like a marathon sprint, and then you have a moment to breathe at the winter break, and then second semester, we had a four-day week this week, and then we got a couple more weeks, and then, man, we're gonna be at spring break, and then we graduate early. mean, May 11th, our seniors are done.
So Monday, May 11th. So then you look at the calendar and you're like, wait a second. So then if we have to have senior convocation and we're doing this and senior finals, man, that, you know, that's, that's the first week of May, you know, Holy smokes, we're, finishing up quick. So, you know, I always, I look forward to that. I look forward to, the, the seniors and their beginnings and, really just, reflecting and prepping and
And that the part of this season that I that really hurts for someone, you know, like for me, because I not that I hate being in my office, but, know, I just as as the principal of a high school or middle school, you are literally the furthest person away from students, you know, and and so.
You know you don't get the interactions like an assistant principal does when they're coming in to sit down and talk or you don't get a lot of those interactions. So you know you get your opportunities during our walkthroughs and and what we're doing. You know classroom observations and we're doing some of those things, but I always like to make sure we are very, visible in the in the hallways that when we are when we are out and about that we are.
actively engaging with the students. you know, so, you know, as far as the, you know, the looking forward to and taking an opportunity to really grasp and see some of the great things that are happening, because this time of year can definitely get caught up in, you know, planning for next year with master schedule and, you know, and everything else that takes place.
It comes up so quick. I have found that right around that Thanksgiving time frame, that's a really good sweet spot in a school year. mean, there's a lot going on. There's events and things. But you come back after the holidays, and you hit the ground running. And oftentimes, you're battling snow days, as we might hear in a couple of days. But you're doing enrollment and master schedule.
you're already looking ahead to next year. And so it goes really quick. You kind of hit on, you talked about the visibility and I was going to ask you about advice that you would give. And I think that that would be really good advice for anybody listening who's not an administrator, but wants to be that visibility piece. So I'm going to flip it a little bit. What advice did you receive as a first year administrator that you still are remembering and holding onto today?
Oh, wow. Holy smokes from, you know, there's there, you know, advice that's funny advice that's, you know, the biggest piece of advice that I think, you know, every all the get a good pair of shoes was was one of my mentors, he said, invest in good shoes is is going to be huge.
But the thing that I think we all, definitely being younger-ish, I think I was 33 when I got my first admin position, 31, I'm indestructible at the time and you're running out of fumes, but the big piece of advice is take care of yourself, take care of your physical and mental wellbeing, take care of...
You know, because you're going to open your eyes tomorrow and you're going to be 51 years old and you're going to be, you know, I'm, pushing 29 years in the district, 28, 29 years in the district. And, you know, where did that time go? And, uh, you know, making sure that you, you stay healthy, uh, mentally, physically. Um, I think that is the best piece of advice that I got that I did not listen to, um, you know, because there's always, you know, uh,
It was not until I got to Heights High School and was able to interact with my children the way that I did that I realized just how much stuff I had missed. Or, you know, I get home and I'm so tired and I don't want to go work out or, you know, I don't want to get up in the morning like right now, you know, when it's seven degrees in the morning, it's not really inviting to get up and, you know, go to the YMCA to go work out or whatever, you know, but getting into those
Make sure that you take time to eat lunch. Make sure you you know all all the things that I know I'm supposed to do that they told us about at Wichita State University and the program and you know just when you get busy you know that self care and always want to take care of other people. You a lot of times you tend to. You tend to. Not take care of yourself, so that would be one thing and and.
The other is be prepared for what you can't be prepared for. The things that you cannot, the things that you can't prep for is just absolutely mind boggling. My wife's in the medical field and she, you know, kind of, she kind of laughs like I've seen more.
You know between athletic events and stuff more dislocations more, you know accidents and and things and she has and and you know there's there's a lot of a lot of pressure. You know. The the participating in you know and and the kids survived. So that's why I'm telling this. You know we had a kid that got ran over by a bus both axles when I was at Southeast High School and.
you know, having to come up on that, you know, they don't don't they don't teach you that at at Wichita State and you know, last year, Big JT referee here in the the city league, you know, collapsed on the court and and we had to clear the gym and I helped participate doing chest compressions and you know, and then 20 minutes later, you know, the the ambulance leaves and you know, 20 minutes later,
you've compartmentalized and then now you are ready to now shake hands. And we still got a basketball game going on and I have 2,500 people in the gymnasium that we need to make sure that they have a decent experience. yeah, it's just there's a lot and making sure that you figure out a way how you are able to decompress.
Yeah, you mentioned a few things there. I'll comment on first of all, the surprises, the things you just can't prepare for. And it really ties into what you said right before that, which is take care of yourself. And just to sum it all up, how do you take care of yourself? there's so much that we do have to compartmentalize with what we do to be able to.
to move to really a pretty traumatic situation in a gym floor. Then you got to move to making decisions. But at some point at the end of the day, you go home and you sit in a chair and it all starts coming back. how do you take care of yourself? And that's so important. I think that's really important for those listening who either aren't in the chair or brand new. And also to know that we all feel it. We're not robots. So no one expects. And you shouldn't feel like you have to just
deal with it and like, I just got to push things aside. No, take care of yourself, the mental, the physical, and all those things. And I'd also say that it's so easy. The first thing that's easy to go is taking care of going home and working out. It's real easy to put that aside, but really important piece. then just to circle back, because this came up in a conversation I had with Sean Henderson. He brought up the shoes, too.
And he was talking about his first pair of Hokas. And I got a pair, too. And I'm like, my gosh, this is like world changing. But the amount of walking that we do and maybe if I mentioned them on this, they'll sponsor us at some point. But no, I really appreciate that. And before we go, I'd like to give everybody on here a chance to brag on your people. You've talked a lot about just so many great things happening in Wichita and happening at Heights.
And I loved what you said earlier, actually wrote it down, said, I'm the big idea guy, but I rely on others to help me. And I love that acknowledgement. So this is a chance to recognize all those others who are helping you out there.
man, my entire administrative team, they are absolutely incredible. It is a great mix of concrete sequential, a big idea. know, Everardo Flores is one of our, well, I tell you what, Myron Fisher, Everardo Flores, Tracy Nigg is our athletic director. She is our APAD.
And she was actually a social worker by trade. So she brings in just a different perspective. Joanne Fluker, she's our special ed, just guru of all guru-ness with the SPED world, our social workers that we have in the building, our school sites. But a big one.
Ryan Degraff. don't want him to listen to this and not having an opportunity to say his name, but our security team is absolutely amazing. Stephanie Chappot is our instructional coach and she was my first hire when coming over to Heights High School and I worked with her when she was, or I knew her when she was student teaching at North High years ago.
And then she was also involved in Avid and she knows curriculum inside and out and she's just absolutely a godsend. so, you know, her, data coach and Ms. Hutton is my assistant and man, she will, she takes care of me. She'll shut the door. She'll keep me to my calendar.
And I don't mess with Ms. Hutton. So if she says, I'm shutting the door, need to, this is on your calendar, you're doing your emails right now. So audit, I'll take care of it. So having those individuals and then also our assistant superintendent, which is funny, Dr. Lauren Hatfield, I like to tell people that I hired her into the district as a math teacher at Southeast and now she's my boss.
She's absolutely amazing and you know the support that we get from our central office as well as Brandon Johnson and he is our executive director of secondary ed and he is my personal coach that also helps me when I need to talk through some different things. the collaborative
not feel, the collaboration that we have in our district. And if you need help with somebody, you know, there's always somebody there and the other principals that we have here in the district as well with different chat groups that we have that, you know, we'll pose questions off each other to, you know, to find out, hey, how do you do this? How do do that? So it's very, very helpful.
you know, to have those individuals, to have that team. And then of course my wife, who is just so unbelievably supportive of what we're trying to do here in the community. It's really a blessing.
lot of great people and kind of it could be a show feature, the principal spouse, know, the role that they play. It's, yeah.
They feel a lot too. But awesome to hear so many great people out there that you're working with. And Eric, it sounds like so many wonderful things happening in Wichita. And I appreciate your time at the end of a long school day. And this is another thing for you. But it's great that you were able to come on and share your story and Wichita Heights story here for those listening. And I want to wish you all the best this semester. And we'll get through as.
unscathed as possible with any weather events and rescheduling and whatever may come up this semester.
Absolutely. Well, I truly appreciate you giving me the opportunity to have this forum. And I really enjoy reflecting and appreciate you asking about the people that were around me, yeah, that's none of anything we've accomplished is possible without.
Yeah, that's absolutely, positively the truth there. There's so many people, but well, thanks, Eric, and we'll wish you all the best. Have a good evening.
Absolutely, I appreciate it. Thank you. Enjoy the rest of your school year.
