Work hard, smart, together is Willis’s mantra as superintendent

By the time Tiny Willis spoke to the Rotary Club of Demopolis Wednesday, he had been on the job as superintendent of Demopolis City Schools for a day and a half.

Several hours of that had been spent replacing a tire on his car that went flat.

Still, Willis regaled Rotarians with a bit of his background and gave them an idea of his educational philosophy.

“In reality you really don’t care that much about me but how does what I do affect you and what you do,” he said.

Son of a career military officer, Willis said that by the time he was 15 he had been in 15 different homes. From high school on he has lived primarily in north Alabama. A former chemistry and physics teacher and coach, Willis said he has been in all different kinds of school systems, from the most affluent to the most poverty-stricken and from the most diverse to those that had almost no minorities.

“In every stop along the way,” he said, “I feel like I’ve learned things.”

What he’s always taken with him – his mantra — is work hard, work smart and work together.

“If we can get that,” he continued, “then there is nothing we can’t do in Demopolis.”

When it comes to working hard, “We’ve got to have a sense of urgency to make every minute count.”

Earlier in his career he was told, “When you’re in public education you’re dealing with people’s two most valuable assets, their children and their money,” he said. “You better get it right. You better do it right and listen to what people want.”

He said schools need to focus on the things their students need to be learning and that they will use later in their lives. “Let’s make sure we’re spending our time getting the most bang for our buck.”

That means the school system will be “making sure students are learning the things that are going to help them.”

ACT scores in Demopolis have been flat and within a tenth of the state average for five years, Willis said. He believes that if everyone improves just a little bit, the whole school system will benefit.

“Everybody’s connected in the community to the schools,” he continued, whether as parents, employees or students.

At the high school level, school systems look at two things, college and career ready. “We have to prepare the kids either way.”

Willis said he had already spent time in Demopolis on what he called his Listening Tour talking with people in the community to find out what they liked about the city and what was on their wish list. He found there were a lot of positives, and the negatives were very insignificant.

Although education is the primarily focus of the school system, he said sports and extra-curricular activities will remain an important part of every student’s life.