The Greene County School District has a new leader.

Brett Abbotts grew up near Toronto, Ontario, Canada and just last year became a US citizen. In his 15 year educational career, Abbotts has taught in South Dakota, as well as Southeast Polk High School, was the assistant principal and activities director with AHSTW-Avoca and spent the last six years as principal at Roosevelt Elementary School in Council Bluffs. The married father of two young children says when he wanted to make the jump to being a superintendent, he talks about applying for the position with Greene County Schools.

“Ultimately I had to ask the question, ‘This is a right fit for, not just me, but is this the right fit for  us?’ And I can see our family being here for a long time? And is there enough there for us to really make our mark and really make a significant impact? It just kept being, ‘Yes! Absolutely!” Big time exclamation marks.”     

Abbotts wants to be visible and transparent, along with being open and available to anyone. He also wants to connect and build relationships within the community. Abbotts says one of his priorities is learning about what makes Greene County tick, both positively and negatively.

“We have to capitalize on the great things that are going on, because there’s a lot of them. And I just think in education we give so much attention to some of the negative noise, and I’m not about that. I’m about giving attention to the positive noise and spotlighting/highlighting our  fantastic educators, and support staff and para(educators) and bringing them to the forefront. So it’s going to be really kind of shifting that culture in our schools and really focusing on the great things that are happening.”   

Abbotts is looking forward to the start of the school year and wants to instill a culture where everybody makes everyone feel like a someone, along with collaborating and professionalism within the district. Abbotts officially started as the superintendent on July 1st.