BDN Features Principal Joe Vrydaghs - Principal's role is to manage great ideas

BELOIT — Aldrich Intermediate School Principal Joe Vrydaghs essentially won a statewide award for saying yes.

Last year, he was named the Administrator of the Year by the Wisconsin Administrators for Environmental Education.

“It’s not because I have this passion for environmental science,” Vrydaghs said. “I was a fifth grade teacher before going into administration. I taught science, but history was probably more my thing.”

Vrydaghs was nominated by Kathleen Woodman, a teacher at Aldrich who works specifically with the Beloit Learning Academy students at the school. She put Vrydaghs up for the award after he approved her request to bring professionals from the Welty Environmental Center to Aldrich for her BLA students.

“My leadership style is if a teacher can give me a good reason to do something that will engage the kids then I’ll approve it,” said Vrydaghs, who was worked for the School District of Beloit since 2001. “When I was teaching fifth grade we would do a field trip every year to Welty. It was hands-on learning and the kids love it. We want the kids in the alternative school to fall back in love with learning. So when she came to me with this idea, it was potentially a no, but she’s good enough and I trust her enough that I knew she’d get it done right.”

The program went well and Welty has been out to see the BLA kids at Aldrich two years in a row. Vrydaghs doesn’t know what great ideas he’ll approve this year.

“I’m really excited for this school year because we have a phenomenal teaching staff,” said Vrydaghs, who has been the Aldrich principal since 2016.

The first day of school was Tuesday.

“My job isn’t to come up with the great ideas. My job is to manage 40 to 42 different great ideas from my teachers,” Vrydaghs said.