The Town the School Built: Dr. Matt Dillon, Petal Schools Superintendent

So now that you're out of the classroom, tell me, and I see this every day because I am in pedal.

I have children in the district.

I see you at car line.

I see you at drop off and I see you directing buses and all the things.

How do you stay connected to your passionate roots of being an actual teacher?

Yeah, so my schedule is pretty unique.

I spend a ton of time in the buildings.

I want to be where the action's at.

And it's not any other thing other than I just want to be around teachers because I love teachers.

I want to be around leaders at the building level.

And I want to be around students.

That's where I find my joy.

Now, I have to deal with the other not so fun parts of my job.

The emails, the other challenges that I have to deal with that are so necessary.

but I find the joy in being in the school.

So I pride myself and I work closely with my assistant to make sure my schedule reflects that.

So I want to be around our people and I love it when a kid calls me by name.

That means they know their superintendent.

I didn't have that experience growing up, Because it wasn't like that back in the day, right? That wasn't really the focus.

So my team at Central Office, we want to be a resource to the building level.

So we spend a good bit of time there, but also at athletic events and art events.

You do.

Those are important.

And it's not just, like you said, you nodded to Central Office staff.

It's not just you that we see out.