Harris on board as new curriculum director for School Dist. No. 1

Keith Harris brings a wealth of experience to his new position as Curriculum Director for Big Horn County School District No. 1.Harris is the former principal at Cokeville Schools, where he worked for 11 years, overseeing the entire K-12 system. Cokeville is similar in size to Burlington Schools. Harris noted that Cokeville is a high-achieving district, and he said he was attracted to the position because he liked the idea of being in the center of the effort to make continual improvements to an entire district.[caption id="attachment_10247" align="alignright" width="199"] Keith Harris rolled up his sleeves this summer working on the curriculum for Big Horn County School District No. 1, in his capacity as the district’s new curriculum director.
Patti Carpenter Photo[/caption]“I enjoyed being principal of Cokeville Schools,” said Harris. “It was a great experience, but I also like the idea of being involved in so many critical aspects of the district. As curriculum director, I have the opportunity to have more of a broad influence across the district. It’s still very involved with teaching and learning and effective practice. The idea of being involved with the student achievement across an entire district was very appealing to me, compared to being involved within the confines of a single building.“Being curriculum director is very attractive to me because of the broad reach that it has. It focuses on what’s critical in education. That is instruction and student achievement.”Prior to his position at Cokeville Schools, he was the principal of Driggs Elementary School in Idaho for three years. Before that he was the vice-principal and athletic director of Teton High School. He taught high school social studies (economics, history and government) for four years in Teton County, Idaho, before he became an administrator. He also coached football, basketball and track while in Driggs and was even athletic director for a while.“I’ve been very fortunate to work at all levels, pre-k through 12th grade,” said Harris. “I like that, in this position that, I can continue working with students at all grade levels. I get to see the whole picture from beginning to end. I like that.”Harris has a bachelor’s degree in education from Weber State University. He has a master’s degree in educational administration from Idaho State University.Harris grew up on a dairy farm in the small town of Taylor, Utah, which is located about 15 miles west of Ogden.“You couldn’t find it on the map,” he chuckled. “I feel like we’ve moved to the big city here (Cowley). We have a store.”Harris and his wife are “empty-nesters.” They moved to Cowley in late June. Harris began his position as curriculum director with the district shortly afterward.The couple’s youngest son is a freshman at Michigan State, their middle son just started law school at Yale and their oldest son works in Orem, Utah.“We’ve always heard good things about Big Horn County and we thought this would be a great place that we’d like to be,” said Harris. “So far, we love it here.”He said he is very impressed with the district so far.“I’m really impressed with the administrative team here,” said Harris. “Shon is a great superintendent and our three principals and two vice-principals are out of this world. It’s a pleasure working with this team. I’m also getting to know the teachers and other staff and there’s not a bad apple in the batch. They are all fantastic.”Harris said he expects to see “continued great things” from District 1.“It’s my hope that I can be an asset to that,” he said, “that I can provide some assistance and help make something great, even better.”He said, so far, his impression of the district is that it’s “top notch.”“It’s my opinion and my philosophy that we can always improve. My favorite quote is that ‘it’s not enough to be good, if you have the ability to be even better and it’s not enough to be very good, if you have the ability to be great.’ So, we’re not going to stop short of great.“Though my impression of the district is very positive, I’m also excited about the opportunity to be even better. I think we’ll always be striving for that. This is a fantastic place to be and I feel very fortunate to be here.”By Patti Carpenter