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Assistant Principal Karen Walls is leaving at the end of the school year
BY CONOR SWEENY & JACK RADCLIFFE
At the end of this school year, DHS Assistant Principal Mrs. Karen Walls will be leaving her post. After 16 years of working in the Dexter, she plans to take a little break from working and move to Kentucky with her family.
Over the course of her career, Mr. Walls has made sure to make great relationships with her peers and students, along with making certain that everyone has a voice. She was promoted to assistant principal after working in the special education department around a decade ago. She has helped guide DHS in the right direction from big picture planning, too, according to various staff members, keeping the school functioning.
“Her ability to bring the best out of everyone I think was something that she did so well in her administrative role,” English teacher Krista McDonnough said. “She can see the masses of people and is warm and understanding.”
For many teachers, her impact goes behind what she’s done at the high school.
“She’s kept me sane in this asylum,” history teacher Kevin Cislo said in a sarcastic tone. “She has babysat my kids at the football field before football games, she has a secret stache of starbursts just for Clayton, and I call her Ma. She’s a motherly figure in this environment for me.”
Here’s Mrs. Walls in her own words.
What impact do you hope you’ve had on the school throughout your time here?
Mrs. Walls: I would hope that the impact I have left has to do with making sure everyone has a voice, making sure that all students have the ability to learn no matter what they’re facing personally. Academically, building relationships has been super important to me in my entire career. You all are people first and you have stories and I want to know them. And so I hope that people feel cared for, feel heard, and feel that they have an advocate when they can’t speak for themselves. So I think, impact-wise, that’s what I’m hoping for.
Where are you going after and what are you doing?
Mrs. Walls: So, 16 years ago we moved here. I’m not a Michigan native. We moved here from Kentucky. My husband took a position with Domino’s at the headquarters in Ann Arbor. So that’s what brought us here. We were convinced it was going to be five years and then we were out and so here we are, 16 years later. He has since left Domino’s – he left a year ago and has been working in Tennessee. We’ve been managing a multi-state situation. My son just graduated from U of M and we are returning back to Kentucky. My in-laws are there and my family is there. So we’re building a home and heading back to where we consider home; Little milder winters, so I’m not minding that. So it’s very bittersweet, because we didn’t have family here, and we still don’t have family here. Friends have become family and Michigan will always be a fun spot, aside from the winter. I did go to high school and college in Florida if you couldn’t tell. Other than the winter, I have nothing negative to say about our Michigan experience, so it’s definitely been a blessing.
Are you getting another job or are you retiring?
Mrs. Walls: Ummm… I don’t know. I’m gonna take a pause. I don’t know what my next move is. I know I have a lot of gas left in the tank, but I don’t know. This will have been 26 years, so I taught 10 years in Kentucky and 16 here. So, I’m gonna do something, I just don’t know what yet.
What do you hope to see out of Dexter Schools after you leave? What would you like to continue happening or start happening that hasn’t already begun?
Mrs. Walls: I would like the personal connection with staff the with students with families to continue. This is a really unique community. It’s not like this everywhere. I was in a suburb outside of Louisville when I first taught, and the engagement in a very positive way in this community is really second to none. I don’t want to lose sight of that. I mean, Covid really changed how we do things, and some is good and some is like, well, let’s think about that. But I don’t want to lose sight of that personal connection piece. I still hope that continues. I think we have a fantastic staff here and they work really hard to build those connections. And it gets easier and easier the further we move from Covid. I don’t think [Covid is] ever really gonna be gone, I think it’s just how we live with it now… I think Dexter should pride itself on that personal connection piece. If there’s a student here in this building that says, ‘I don’t have that connection with anybody,’ that bothers me. In my heart that bothers me and in my gut that bothers me, so I think there’s always work to be done there.
What is your final message?
Mrs. Walls: Gosh I’m gonna get like all sappy, I don’t wanna get choked up y’all. Hmm… sorry. I think being an adolescent is hard. You all have experienced in the last couple of years something I have never experienced at age 49 you know. And what was lost or altered through Covid has really set some folks into a tailspin, rightfully so. Experiences have been different. But these four years, this is a moment in time. Yes, soak it up, but do so and still be right at your core. Be a good human. I know that sounds cliche but we’ll get through whatever you need to get through. Seek to understand, listen to be understood. Enjoy the ride. Everything happens for a reason. That’s what I’m telling myself about why this move is happening now. And don’t hesitate to reach out when you feel like you can’t do it solo. There’s a heck of a lot of people in here that are willing to help and we want you to be heard, and we want to be here to support you.
