As of last week, Mr. Barry, a social studies teacher at Fossil Ridge High School, will be taking over for Mr. Wulff as the dean of Students. He’s been shadowing Wulff and will be taking over officially soon. A permanent replacement for his government and social studies classes has not been found yet.

“I want to have an impact on students in a more exponential way, specifically by helping teachers become better, because every student, regardless of the course they are taking, deserves the best teacher,” said Barry.  He wants to take on a leadership role in these ‘changing times in education’ because he believes it’s the right time to make positive movements. 

Barry has been a teacher for sixteen years, and before that was a youth counselor. He has been a principal and hopes to have another leadership position in Poudre School District. The opportunity to be a dean presented itself, and as Barry said, “I didn’t choose the timing of the offering, but I would hate to look back 15 years from now and say, there was my opportunity to get back into a leadership role, and I missed it.”

“There were many outstanding candidates [for the dean position] and I feel honored to have been selected from such an amazing pool,” said Barry. He had to apply for the position as well as be interviewed.

Instead of teaching lessons in the classroom, Barry will now have other duties to attend to. His job will include dealing with students when they make a poor decision and handling the outcome of those situations.

“I see my position as dean like a teaching position in a different setting.  When students make poor choices, there’s a teachable moment there.  I will be teaching different lessons than the government or history lessons that I’ve been teaching the past decade,” said Barry. He will miss the energy of debates and discussions in the classroom, as well as the opportunity to build relationships with so many students at once.

Many of his students aren’t too happy that their teacher is leaving at the start of the new semester, but Barry wants them to know he’s not abandoning them.

“I too am upset about leaving my current students.  I didn’t pick this timing of course, but in life, things happen that are unexpected. My hope for them all is that someday they will have an opportunity to move into a position which will have as large an impact as I believe my move into administration will have,” said Barry.

As for the impact on students Barry’s hoping to have in his new position he said, “I think that the position of dean is a teaching position and teaching in this role will, many times have a more profound impact than any government or history class could.  And, sometimes the students that I will have the opportunity to work with as dean, won’t have much success in traditional classrooms.  So, if that’s the case, don’t they deserve the best teachers as well?”