Rob Dean to be new BHS principal

New BHS Principal Rob Dean and his wife, Sammi. In a unanimous decision at Monday night's meeting of the BISD School Board, Rob Dean was hired as the new principal of Buffalo High School. Dean comes to BHS from Stephenville, where he has been an assistant principal for the past seven years. Prior to earning his Masters in Educational Administration at the University of North Texas 2002, he taught history for five years in Dallas.

Dean is a native of Oklahoma, but the Board teasingly promised not to hold that against him. He grew up in Blackwell, where he graduated third in his class at Blackwell High in '91. He was in the Foreign Language Club, NHS, played football and ran track. He was also an Eagle Scout. When he graduated in '96, Dean aspired to go to law school and attended the University of Oklahoma, majoring in political science and minoring in legal studies. He graduated in 1996, but found that five summers of working at a privately-owned sports/recreational camp had changed his goals. "I realized I didn't want to be a lawyer, but wanted to work with kids," Dean explains. He went back to school and earned a teaching degree at the University of Central Oklahoma.

Camp Olympia was also where he met his wife Sammi, another counsellor on the staff. They married in '98 and she is a strong supporter and ally for her husband. “My responsibility is to help make him the best principal that he is capable of becoming. We come as a package -- Team Dean,” Sammi shared.

Dean took a teaching position at Skyline, a 5-A school in Dallas. After teaching regular and AP US history for five years, he decided to go into administration.

Dean described his goal for BHS. "I think it is doing our best every day. Texas is moving toward end of course exams, and that's something we really need to start focusing on -- making sure our students are successful in that and successful as a whole in Life in general. The making of a good person should be the intangible goal of every high school."

Asked why he chose Buffalo, Dean pointed out, “When you look at the students’ scores, you see that... success is part of the culture here.” Both Dean and his wife grew up in small towns and consider that a definite plus, as well as the East Texas climate.