New school year, new superintendent

As students make their way back to school this week, a new superintendent leads the way for the district. Superintendent Adam Shaw’s official first day was July 1, but was catching up on the district prior to his official start date. He has spent the last 25 years in education in South Dakota.

Growing up in Rochester, N.Y., Shaw made his way to South Dakota because he wanted to play college football. He and his dad toured five colleges and decided on Dakota State University in Madison because it felt like a fit and homey. However, Shaw discovered it was a hard change to go from huge Rochester, N.Y., to small South Dakota.

“I was there for probably a couple weeks and called my dad and said you’ve gotta come get me. This is just not for me. He made me stay,” he said. “At semester I told him I was going to transfer back and he put me on the plane at Christmas and I said well you’re going to come back and get me and bring my stuff home. He made me go back for the second semester and it’s the best thing he did to me. I stuck it out and met my wife at that point and then I settled in and it was great from there on.”

When he started college, he had no idea what he wanted to do. His dad was an engineer for Kodak, him mom was a stay-at-home mom and his step-mom was a social worker so he did not come from a family of educators. When at DSU, they told him they had a 100 percent placement rate for teachers so he figured he would try that. 

“And I love it. I absolutely love what I do. This will be year 25 for me. There isn’t a day I despise coming to work,” Shaw said. “I absolutely love the kids. I love the teachers. I just love what I do. I’ve been very fortunate and blessed to be put in places that have really been good for me.”

He got his degree in elementary education with a middle school endorsement. After graduating, he took his first teaching job as a middle school science teacher in Flandreau from 2000-2006. From Flandreau, he went to Marion and served as the high school principal from 2006-2010. In his first year in Marion, he wrote his master’s thesis and had his last child. 

He completed his specialist degree when he was hired as Marion’s superintendent. 

He has master’s degrees in administration and technology integration from the University of Sioux Falls. Shaw spent three years as the superintendent before taking the job as high school principal in Madison, where he spent the last 12 years.

“It was a great 12 years. I really enjoyed my time in Madison,” he said.

He and his wife, Kate, moved to Madison to be closer to her dad as he was going through some health issues. At the time, he wasn’t looking to leave his position in Marion, but it was time to move closer to her parents. He notes he was also wasn’t really looking at leaving Madison either until he was approached by the recruiter for the Lennox district.

“I had looked at it (superintendent roles) but wasn’t looking hard. It pushed me to apply and interviewed and here I am,” he said.

As he gets started on his 25th school year, Shaw goes into the year fully aware of the issues the district faced over the past year. He is working on putting together a vision and getting everybody rallied back.

“I think the big thing for me is I want to make sure we’re transparent. I want to make sure as an admin team we get people to understand it’s all about trust and accountability and high expectations,” Shaw said. “I think recentering is the big thing for me.”

He notes that as educators they are in it for the kids.

“I’ve always been a firm believer that we’re in this business to raise a good whole child. It takes all of us to raise those kids,” he said.

Shaw and his wife have been married for 26 years and have three adult children and one grandchild. As soon as their house sells in Madison, they plan to move to Lennox.

“I’m looking forward to being here and being part of the community. I’m very blessed. The board took a risk on me and I hope to deliver what they’re after. I think everybody in this community has been super friendly and I appreciate that,” Shaw said. “My door is always open. I want to know things good and bad because we can’t ever fix what we don’t know and I think that’s what’s most important to me. I feel like I’m very approachable. I need to know those things. Dissatisfaction just leads to a lot of things that we don’t need. In order for us to move ahead and be progressive we’ve got to stay on the forefront of those things.”