Next Fountain Lake head of schools making plans

FOUNTAIN LAKE — The new superintendent for the Fountain Lake School District, Darin Landry, says he is looking forward to starting his new position this summer.

Landry, the current athletic director/district administrator at Lakeside School District, was announced as Fountain Lake’s next superintendent during a special-called meeting Wednesday night at Fountain Lake’s district administrative office.

He will remain in his current role until June 30 and step into his new role at Fountain Lake on July 1.

Fountain Lake Board President Dana Greeson said following the meeting the board is now preparing his contract, which he will sign in the coming days, or possibly at the Feb. 12 regular monthly meeting.

“You know, going through the interview process, I kept getting really, really excited for the possible opportunity,” Landry said Thursday.

“I think Fountain Lake is an excellent school district and that’s a huge reason why I applied for that position.

“And I wanted to be a part of that community. The community’s a great community and there are a lot of great people there, and I’m excited to be able to work with them,” he said.

Current Superintendent Michael Murphy announced his retirement in October after being with the district eight years.

Landry said his entire educational philosophy centers on kids and wanting what is best for them. Having served as principal at Lakeside High School for eight years, and before that, six years as assistant principal, he said professional learning communities — which focus on collaborative learning rather than teaching — are a key factor in ensuring student success.

“I’m part of the professional learning communities,” he said.

“That was huge [for us] when I was a high school principal at Lakeside; that’s a huge part of the high school that came in, and I was on the ground floor of that.”

He said he wants to see the district progress forward and is excited to not only be a part of that effort, but also to help lead it.

During the interview, he said he felt like he meshed really well with the goals of the district and their personalities.

“I really feel like I’m going to mesh really great with their community and I can’t wait to get to know the people in the community, get to know the kids,” he said. “Because I will be 100% ingrained in the Fountain Lake community.”

“He impressed us in the interview,” Greeson said. “We had four great interviews. We had multiple qualified candidates. But when he came and interviewed, he just … his preparedness, his ideas for how to move our district forward, just really an overall impression left us feeling excited about the change that we could see here at Fountain Lake.”

Greeson said Landry will be collaborating with Murphy in the coming months, and the district will also be hiring a new middle school principal this spring.

“I would imagine that he would have some involvement in that process since that will be part of his leadership team,” she said. “I see him being on campus periodically between now and July, just trying to get a grasp on what he’s going to do so that when he hits the ground on July 1, he’s got a plan and he’s ready to go.”