Woodland Meadows Principal to Retire

This summer, Wanda Killips will be looking back on a long career she never even suspected she wanted.

“I had no intention of going into teaching," said Killips, who announced last week that she will be retiring as principal of .  "What changed my mind was that both of our children had the same kindergarten teacher who, in my opinion, was not very good,” Killips said. “It made think that teaching can’t be that hard.”

Killips grew up in the Kalamazoo area and her college studies had prepared her for a career in journalism or public relations.  She was a stay-at-home mom with tw children in elementary school when she became interested in education.

After she went back to school and finished up in education, she landed a job at an elementary school in Shelby. Her belief that teaching “can’t be that hard” quickly faded.

‘I remember when I started that everyone was asking whether teaching is a science or an art. Can you learn to be a good teacher? Or is it just a creative thing? And I think it’s both,” Killips said. “That’s what makes it so difficult, because you have to know the curriculum. You must know the pedagogy of teaching. But all of that changes, and you have to pull everything you know with every single child sitting in front of you, because they all learn differently.”

And because they do, educators like Killips are rarely far removed from their jobs and their students.

“The amount of time put into teaching goes above and beyond the school day. It’s almost always on your mind and you take it wherever you go,” she said. “When you’re driving or cooking dinner, you’re thinking about those kids. There are always those children who are puzzles and you have to figure them out. There are days when it eats at you. But there is no profession that is more rewarding.”

Killips described the decision to retire as difficult. 

“Since I began here, I went from having three grandchildren to six grandchildren. And those six little people are going to keep me very busy. We’ve also moved my elderly father near our home in Chelsea,” she said.  “It was like choosing between two families. I have my own family situation and Woodland Meadows is just an amazing place to work, with a great staff, talented teachers and all the great students.”

Killips and her husband David Killips are both educators. He is superintendent for Chelsea schools.

She came to Saline Area Schools after 24 years in various roles of public education. Saline Area Schools Superintendent Scot Graden said Killips was an important addition to the district.

“She has been an excellent addition to our administrative team, helping us with professional development strategies and bringing a fresh perspective to our discussions around evaluating and assessing student work,” Graden said. “She brings a strong background in literacy to the table. Her commitment to keeping student learning in the forefront of all decisions is exemplary.”

After her 10 years in Shelby, the family moved to Reed City for her husband’s job. She taught for a year and then became reading coordinator for four years. After that, the family moved to Washtenaw County. Killips worked for one year as a reading consultant at the Jackson Intermediate School District before moving to the Washtenaw Intermediate School District (WISD). As literacy coordinator, she spent five years working with middle and high school teachers on a program to helps students access difficult text. The program continued to expand and is now also used in Livingston County.

Killips, however, wanted to find a way back into a school district.

“It (the job at the WISD) was a great job and I got to know many great teachers and administrators, but I was missing the children horribly. This kid element was missing and I was trying to figure out how to return to a school district,” Killips said.

While vacationing in Arizona, Killips saw the posting for the job at Woodland Meadows.

Leaving the district wont be easy, she said. She finds it especially difficult to leave when there is such uncertainty created by the state’s funding cuts.

“It’s an interest era in education and that’s one of the reasons why retiring was such a difficult decision,” she said. “I believe its my job to support teachers so they can do their work and to make them feel safe in the classroom so they don’t have to worry about anything except teaching. I did not want to add to the chaos.”

While the three years at Woodland Elementary represent one of the shortest stops in her career, they were among her best, she said.

“I always said it was an honor to be principal at Woodland Meadows. It is such a wonderful place to be,” she said.

The children’s book, Have You Filled a Bucket Today?, is popular among educators because it is an effective tool for teaching children how to treat one another. According to the book’s premise, when you’re supportive and complimentary of another person, you’re filling their bucket. Conversely, when you say mean things about or bully another student, you’re taking water from their bucket. Killips thinks of what she’ll miss most about her time as an educator, she thinks of her 400 students.

“The kids are just so amazing. They make me laugh and they fill my bucket every day,” said Killips.