Superintendent Derry Leaves District for a job at the District 20 Education Service Center (ESC-20) in San Antonio. His position is a new one, which is intended to support small school districts located in ESC-20.
Per Mr. Derry, his job will be to support Local Education Agencies (LEAs) through the development of relationships with all stakeholders. He will also assist in the brokering and marketing Center products and services. Assist in the development, facilitation, and implementation of an efficient and effective communication network among local LEAs, ESC-20,
and the Texas Education Agency. Assist LEAs in efforts to improve student performance and align programs/services addressing the needs of the LEA.
In his new role, he said, “I hope to be a catalyst and instrumental in advocating for and assisting small school districts within Region 20.”
When asked about his five most important accomplishments as the superintendent at Utopia ISD, he stated, “I do not see myself as accomplishing anything on my own. Accomplishments are always a team effort. My goal is always to hire people who are great at their jobs and have a deep love for students. Then, I try to act as a servant leader and advocate for students.”
When asked what he thought his greatest accomplishments were as Superintendent at Utopia ISD. Five of the things, in no particular order, that I am very proud of that has been accomplished during my time at Utopia ISD are that “ I am so proud of the students, faculty, staff, parents, and community! The school culture and climate have been wonderful! For the past four and a half years, everyone has worked so hard to support each other, and it is truly a family atmosphere at Utopia ISD.”
Secondly, he commented, “Installation of state-of-the-art security systems to ensure the safety of the staff and students. Although safety is not something we should have to be concerned about in a public education system, in recent years, it has become a necessity, and I am very happy that Utopia is second to none when it comes to student safety!”
Thirdly, “The technology systems at Utopia ISD have come a long way in the past four and a half years. In my first year, the district was able to get Bandera Electric Company to run a fiber line to the district and quadruple the bandwidth from 250 gigabytes to one terabyte, which allowed it to reach terabytes of bandwidth. The district is a one to one computer to student ratio, and all computers have been upgraded within the last four years.
Finally, he commented, “I am very proud of all of the achievements of the staff and students. The staff and students are premier! Students have excelled academically, socially, and athletically! The staff has worked very hard to provide the best education for the students! Everyone has been so willing to try new things and improve themselves and others around them.”
When asked what he would miss most at Utopia School, he stated that “The things I will miss about not being in Utopia are too numerous to count! However, the students would have to be at the top of my list. The students are absolutely the very best! I love being around them every day and will miss the greetings of “Hi, Mr. Derry” from the younger students and the tricks and surprises from the older students!”
Finally, he stated that he” will miss all of the employees! I have told everyone, and I truly mean it; I have not been around any better teachers anywhere. Each teacher and member of the support staff gives everything he or she has to every student.”
