McDowell Mountain Elementary School has a new interim principal, Kevin Wilkinson.

The Indiana native has experience at small schools, administration and, on a more personal note, his baby daughter, Clementine, was recently born in Arizona.

Born and raised in Crawfordsville, Ind., Wilkinson earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary education and teaching from Indiana University Bloomington in 2006. Wilkinson’s first job out of college was at Southmont Schools in Crawfordsville, but after three years, he left his home state for Shishmaref, Alaska., in 2010.

Wilkinson left his “Indiana bubble,” and experienced culture shock in the arctic. The only way on to the island was by plane, and there was only one grocery store, one post office and one school. The other buildings were homes for the 600 Inupiat natives. Wilkinson said he felt like part of the family, because students would come over after school to play video games, and they made artwork from ivory walrus tusks for him.

Wilkinson had agreed to teach another year in Alaska, but his father passed and he returned home to be with his mother and brothers. Wilkinson still believes his year in Alaska was one of his most impactful years in education, and he said he gained an appreciation for other cultures there.

After Alaska, Wilkinson returned to Southmont schools in 2011, and he served as a teacher, the athletic director and the head wrestling coach. After finishing his Master’s in Education Leadership at Indiana Wesleyan University in 2017, Wilkinson was promoted to principal effective January 2018. The former principal moved to a district position, and Wilkinson described the transition as seamless, since he still knew all the staff and students.

“I didn’t get into this for the money, no one’s getting rich being a principal,” Wilkinson said. “There’s an old adage that you don’t do it for the income, you do it for the outcome. That’s kind of how I live, and that’s why I became a teacher. I got into building-level leadership because I want to have that impact on people.”

In the last few weeks, Wilkinson made another transition, but this time it was much different. Last Fall, Wilkinson worked as Dean of Students at BASIS Phoenix, and he switched school districts after a notification on his phone alerted him to the McDowell Mountain opening.

“Here I don’t know anybody, I don’t know any of the staff, I don’t’ know students, I don’t know any of the families, but one of my first goals is to get to know them,” Wilkinson said. “So far, it’s been really welcoming. Unfortunately, COVID has run rampant on us here, as many schools across Arizona and the nation. Unfortunately, my first two weeks, I’ve been trying to fill all the classrooms and make sure there is coverage. This will subside, we’ll get through it and then it’ll just be a little delay in terms of getting to those high-priority items like getting to know the staff and getting their input on certain things, like improvements and goals and things we want to do here. “

Wilkinson’s first day was Jan. 3, the same day all FHUSD students returned to school from winter break. McDowell Mountain was hit worse by COVID cases at the start of the year than the other schools in the district, and in-person classes were closed on Thursday, Jan. 20, and Friday, Jan. 21, due to a lack of educators at the elementary school.

There were 66 absences in one day the week before the closures, and while Wilkinson had hoped to avoid closures, he and his staff were prepared for the possibility to teach virtually.

Wilkinson moved to Arizona in the summer of 2021 for his wife, Barb. They actually went to the same high school together, and they reconnected briefly in Arizona in 2015. They started long-distance dating and married in early 2020. Barb worked remote full time as an assistant principal at Salt River Schools in Scottsdale during the pandemic and she had planned to move back to Indiana but, when the Wilkinson’s found out she was pregnant, Kevin moved out West instead.

“We’d actually been looking at homes in Fountain Hills. This is where we want to live,” Wilkinson said. “We have friends here, and when this position opened up, my wife and I sat down and said that’s where we want to be. Our future is in Fountain Hills. I made that difficult decision to say this is an opportunity I needed to pursue. “

Wilkinson has a notification app that alerted him to the opening in Fountain Hills. While he had his eye on the community, he said it was still hard to leave BASIS after one semester. Wilkinson pointed out the connections with staff and students he left behind, and the pressure he put on the district office to replace him.

Wilkinson is also only on contract until June 30, which doesn’t grant him the job security to go and buy a house right away in Fountain Hills. Still, he said he was excited for his new opportunity, and Wilkinson is confident he can set a good impression.

“These small districts, it’s sometimes hard to get your foot in the door, or even for there to be a vacancy,” Wilkinson said. “My wife and I agreed it was definitely something I wanted to pursue just because you never know when another opportunity like that is going to come up.”

Wilkinson admits he’s a little behind schedule after the first two and a half weeks at McDowell Mountain, but he’s looking forward to student- and staff-centered initiatives after COVID issues subside.

“Number one is safety and security of staff and students,” Wilkinson said. “But number two, my driving goal, is to support teachers and do what I can to help them be more effective in the classroom as well as make their jobs more enjoyable. Right now, there’s a lot of asks on educators, and that’s why you see record numbers of people leaving. There’s a reason for that. There’s so much on the plates of educators today. My goal has always been to look out for them. It’s paramount, if you want to keep good people in the district and in your building.”