The Andes Central School District will be heading into the 2024-2025 school year with a new superintendent, Clint Nelson. Nelson officially began his duties as the Andes Central superintendent on July 1st. This is not Nelson’s first position as a superintendent. Before coming to Andes Central and taking the Elementary Principal position, Nelson had been the superintendent at the Mount Vernon School District. As he had been a superintendent before, he was interested in the position and was persuaded by fellow colleagues and other superintendents to show interest in the position.

Nelson taught for ten years before becoming an administrator for the past 12 years. He has been a part of the Andes Central School District team for the past two years as their Elementary Principal. When it came to getting hired for the superintendent position at Andes Central, the school board knew of Nelson’s certification and career history as a superintendent. The Andes Central School Board sat down with Nelson and talked about the position and his vision for the future of the school. Nelson already knew the school, staff and most importantly the students and had superintendent certification. The school board offered Nelson the position and he accepted. Nelson’s position as elementary principal has also been filled by Andes Central teacher, Darren DeNeui. It seems that the school administration in looking toward the future of the school by keeping people who already know the school and community in administrative positions.

Nelson attended Black Hills State University to get his Bachelor’s Degree in Social Studies. He then attended South Dakota State University to obtain his Master’s Degree in Education Administration. Finally, Nelson attended the University of Sioux Falls for his superintendent’s degree. Career wise, Clint started out as a social studies teacher and head football coach before becoming a seventh through twelfth grade principal. He then became a school superintendent/ elementary school principal at Mt. Vernon. Nelson did not start his college education majoring in education, but eventually figured out it aligned with what he wanted to do in life. He knew that wanted to work with people because he enjoyed building relationships, wanted to coach and was a history buff. Education was a natural fit for all three of the elements that he enjoyed.

Over the years, Nelson’s teaching philosophy has changed. His experience has him combining both wisdom and knowledge to try to make the most impact on the students. When asked how in his new position he plans to motivate his students and staff to achieve their goals, Nelson replied it is all about how one approaches other people. Nelson comes from the mindset that as a school and as educators that “kids are our business” and it is important to let them know that they are cared about by providing a welcoming, respectful and safe environment. Nelson is a firm believer that as an administrator it is his job to provide staff with everything he or she may need and that the staff in turn will have no problem being successful both in relation to their classrooms/students and their professional careers.

As the superintendent of the Andes Central School District, it is Nelson’s duty to be in charge of the daily operations of the school. He will be hands on involved with the curriculum, how to instruct and teach the curriculum and building relationships with his staff and students. He sees it as his role to involve the school and community stakeholders to build together the school’s vision. Nelson also sees getting all of the community and school stakeholders to buy into the school’s vision as one of the more challenging aspects of his job. As the new superintendent, Nelson is not afraid of a challenge and doing what is right even if it is not of popular opinion; he believes in standing up for education. One of the unique aspects of Nelson that he will bring to his position is just how personable he is for both staff and students. When asked what qualities he feels that he possesses that will be helpful for him being successful in his new position, Nelson said he has good people skills, is a good communicator, has a laid-back demeanor, is empathetic and has an existing relationship with the Andes Central staff and students.

As far as measuring the success of the Andes Central students outside of the standardized testing scores, Nelson looks at several factors including retention of teachers, school attendance, seeing individual student growth, and staff growing professionally as indicators of success. For Nelson it is the “aha” moments that he witnesses his students have and being able to celebrate the student’s little successes that mean the most to him. Some changes that Nelson would like to see in Andes Central’s future would be the ideologies. He wants to keep the morale of the students and staff up as well as the Lake Andes community and other communities’ perceptions of the school in a positive way. When people hear Andes Central, he wants them to associate it with being a good school and having good students.

Since he is very new in his position as superintendent, Nelson has been working on scheduling as the school like most schools is short staffed; therefore, he is re-working teaching schedules. He has also been handling the procedural before the beginning of the new school year paperwork.

Nelson wants his staff, students and the community to know that he has their back because he is there to make the staff and students successful. It is his goal that Andes Central provides the best educational and social opportunities for its students. As an educator and administrator, Nelson knows that if rapid changes are made, they are typically found to be unsuccessful. He also knows that with new administration and new teachers that there will be a period of adjustment.

Nelson recently received the South Dakota Innovative Leader of the Year award because of his creation of the Eagle Punch card. Each student sets personal goals both academically and socially which included acts of kindness, accountability, motivation, etc. Each classroom also sets goals and had a classroom punch card as well. The Eagle Punch card allowed Nelson to hold the kids accountable and reward their positive actions. In total for the 2023-2024 school year there were 139 filled punch cards, which was a very big deal. When classrooms met their goals, Nelson would himself reward the kids with an activity or fun game. This program really goes hand in hand with how Nelson approaches his students when it comes to discipline. He knows the importance of knowing the kids before punishing them which requires a great deal of patience. In that same token he knows that it is the little things that can make a student’s day, like celebrating a new pair of shoes or putting on his glasses to help make a student feel comfortable after having to start wearing their own. It is not just the students that benefit from this type of relationship. Nelson feels that as educators “we should learn as much from the kids as they learn from us”. Kids are honest and unfiltered and can teach an educator a lot about themselves both professionally and personally.

Clint and his wife, Bridget, have been married for 24 years. The couple has a son, Peyton, who is in his first year as a teacher at White Lake and a daughter, Devyn, that is currently attending college in Sioux Falls. Clint volunteers at track meets as well as assists at sporting events when needed. Clint and his wife volunteer for the American Cancer Society, Special Olympics, Relays for Life and the March of Dimes. When Clint is not busy working at Andes Central, he enjoys coaching and watching sports, especially the Jacks and Packers; camping; fishing; golfing; reading; and spending time with his family.

Congratulations Mr. Nelson on becoming the new superintendent for Andes Central. Both the Andes Central School District and the community are very lucky to have you in this leadership position.