Disciplining with dignity: Meet the assistant principal doing award-winning work in a Sioux Falls middle school

Some people wouldn’t want Richie Hutchinson’s job.

An assistant principal.

In middle school.

It takes a special soul to hold that role, which often involves disciplining tweens and teens during a particularly challenging stage of life.

But Hutchinson draws on the lessons he learned growing up in a town of 300 people and attending the smallest school in South Dakota. He passes them on every day in the state’s largest city and a school district that numbers nearly 24,000 students.

When Hutchinson walks into George McGovern Middle School, he remembers what he learned in Isabel.

“I was seen as being able to contribute and to offer to the community at a very young age,” he said. “It’s the power of what middle school kids can be and do when they’re young and entrusted with a lot of responsibility and freedom. It shaped me into knowing that students can do more than we as a society think they can and at the same time have the support of a community.”

Hutchinson has been the assistant principal at GMMS since it opened nine years ago. Students and much of the staff moved over from the former Axtell Park Middle School on West Avenue to the new building in northwest Sioux Falls.

A new school building can be a time of excitement, but leaving a familiar location can twist emotions. One of Hutchinson’s first tasks, he said, was to rebuild trust and develop a culture that was supportive of staff and students, one that would focus on learning.

“We were a brand-new building but not a brand-new school,” Hutchinson said. “Sometimes, we neglect how much mourning goes into closing a chapter. People had a lot of really fond memories of Axtell that get tied into the actual space.”

Spaces become sacred to the people who occupy them, the assistant principal said, using language unsurprising from someone who once attended seminary. Leaving such a space without giving people the chance to mourn “correctly and well” created what Hutchinson calls “unique issues.”

This fall, his work at GMMS in areas such as that along with the development of a behavior management plan for George McGovern was recognized when he was named South Dakota’s Assistant Principal of the Year for Region 2. The award, presented by the South Dakota Association of Secondary School Principals, recognizes outstanding middle-level and high school assistant principals “who have succeeded in providing high-quality learning opportunities for students as well as demonstrating exemplary contributions to the profession.”

A state assistant principal of the year is chosen from the regional winners. The association will recognize the winner at its June conference in Deadwood. That person goes on to consideration as national assistant principal of the year.

In nominating Hutchinson, GMMS principal Tim Koehler said: “Mr. Hutchinson is the consummate professional and leads with passion. … His ability to manage the most demanding situations is unparalleled. He has this unique ability to discipline students and not only maintain their dignity but help them to learn in the process.”

This is the fifth year that Hutchinson and Koehler have been a team. Hutchinson also served as assistant principal at George McGovern with Lavonna Emanuel and Lynn Gillette.

“I’ve worked with a number of assistant principals over the years, and Richie probably is the best I’ve worked with,” Koehler said. “Often in a larger district, you don’t get recognized as much. People don’t understand how valuable he is to George McGovern and to the Sioux Falls School District.”

Just how effective is this team? Late last year, Koehler was named Principal of the Year for Region 2.

Kristal Shoffeitt sees Hutchinson in action as the mother of a George McGovern student. Her son, George, is a seventh grader. She also has been a substitute teacher at the middle school multiple times since her family moved to Sioux Falls three years ago.

“One of the things that really sticks out to me with Richie is he really sees kids for who they are,” Shoffeitt said. “You have kids who rough and tumble or struggling, he sees a kid who is maybe hungry or annoyed with what’s going on at home. He sees the kid before he sees their behaviors. Educators often label kids by behaviors, and Richie doesn’t do that.”

Hutchinson is a natural-born educator. That is why it is surprising that he never intended on a career inside a school. If he had not permitted his life to zag when he intended it to zig, it never would have happened.

After Hutchinson graduated in 1997 from Isabel High School — now part of Timber Lake — he planned to attend Augustana University, then enroll at Creighton University School of Law. Shortly before classes started, “I got scared,” he said. Since he knew a couple of  University of Sioux Falls students, he applied there and was accepted.

Still, he floundered. He couldn’t find a major that suited him, although he tried religious studies for a time.

“The chaplain, Dennis Thum, advised me that if I didn’t know what doing, I should major in education because of the skill set it would give me,” Hutchinson said. “I did my student teaching at Memorial Middle School, and as soon I started student teaching, I fell in love and realized I had a skill set for it and a passion.”

That didn’t mean the path got any straighter for Hutchinson. He also felt pulled toward working as a youth pastor. In fact, he turned down his first chance to work in the Sioux Falls School District to continue as a youth pastor when the hiring of his replacement fell through.

Hutchinson continued to substitute teach and to coach. At the same time, he started pursuing a Master of Education Administration degree, working online toward that goal from places like South Africa and Israel where he had traveled on excursions as a youth pastor.

To obtain his master’s though, Hutchinson needed an internship. He approached Diana Messick, then principal at Whittier Middle School, and asked if he could work with her. Messick agreed and eventually urged him to devote himself to education.

“I had a discussion with my wife, and she said, ‘I think it’s clear your passion and heart are in the schools,’” Hutchinson said.

So 15 years ago — six years after leaving college with an undergraduate degree in education — he signed a contract with the Sioux Falls School District, teaching seventh grade social studies at Whittier Middle School.

“I got lucky or blessed, and I was always with a really strong team,” Hutchinson said, praising former co-teachers Russ Townsend, Todd Alberty and Erin McBirney. “They were just amazing and made my job more fun and meaningful with a strong sense of collaboration.”

Hutchinson left the classroom for a chance to be the assistant principal at Patrick Henry Middle School, then life zigzagged again. Pam Homan, then the distirct superintendent, stopped by his office and told him she had a great opportunity for him: the chance to move to a new school that was establishing its own culture.

While misses the classroom — that’s where the magic happens, he said — as an assistant principal, he is a strong advocate for others: the principal, the staff and the students. What you do and what you say has an enormous impact on all three, he said.

His goal is to walk George McGovern’s halls — all of them — every day. When he does that in between periods, he said, he can interact with teachers and students both.

Middle school students, Hutchinson said with consummate tact, “make interesting decisions and need a lot of guidance.”

His seminary training slipping out again, he pointed out that the word “discipline” comes from “disciple,” Greek for “student.” Hutchinson views discipline as an opportunity for learning, not just punishment.

“That doesn’t mean there’s not a consequence or a reality you have to help a student walk through,” he said. “If I’m really bent on helping them learn, I need to walk through it with them, have compassion — and recognizing that sometimes my decisions don’t make me feel good or the student, but I recognize it’s the best thing for them.”

Koehler’s nomination pointed out that Hutchinson led a team of teachers, students and parents through the process of reviewing and adopting a behavior management plan for George McGovern. The past two years, Hutchinson has collaborated with a team to develop alternative options for students who need the most support.

“He definitely does not discipline with a heavy hand,” Koehler said. “He is thoughtful and caring with what he is doing, what will make this a learning moment and what will make this best for the student. … They are at a very needy age. They are trying to find themselves; they’re trying to find their path; they need a lot of support and guidance at that point.”

Hutchinson describes the work at George McGovern as an adventure ever since staff realized students were struggling with multiple issues.

“Maybe time had shifted on us,” he said. “We were seeing emotional outbursts to fighting over smaller things. It was overwhelming for our school. So we took a team and worked together. I would call it environmental scanning. We talked about what was going well at George McGovern and the hurts and pains that haven’t gone well. Then, we developed core values in the way we approached values as a system. We developed core values as a school, then built an approach in how we approach students.”

Shoffeitt has never seen Hutchinson as anything but kind and compassionate when interacting with others, she said.

“As a parent, he sees us as his client,” she said. “He gives us great customer service. He understands what we’re handing over to him, the most important things to our lives, and he value that and respects that.”

Hutchinson and his wife, Allison, have three “important things” in their lives. They are the parents of three: son Elijah Biliu, 18, and daughters Harmony, 15, a sophomore at Roosevelt High School, and Karis, 13, an eighth grader at Edison Middle School.

The award for being outstanding assistant principal may have Hutchinson’s name on it, but — no surprise — he shares it with everyone at George McGovern.

“I can’t reiterate enough that any success I have is really because of this team,” he said. “Anything that’s happened at this school is because our team has been willing to dive in and do the hard work and have tough conversations. At the same time, we really hold a true belief that the work we do matters and makes a difference. It’s the willingness to go the extra mile for our students. Anything that happens at this school rises and falls on them. I’m fortunate enough to advocate for it and be the mouthpiece for it, but the magic is happening out there.”