ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
After a rather quick search, USD 480 will have a new face at the helm starting the 2025-26 school year with Dane Richardson.
As Richardson tells it, he is no newbie to the educational field.
“I'm currently finishing up my 26th year in education, and I've served as a classroom teacher, as a coach, as an elementary school principal, as a superintendent, and even as director of field services at the Education Service Center in Amarillo, Texas, so my career in education has been pretty broad,” Richardson said. “Throughout my career, the departments I led worked directly with school finance, PEIMS/Coding, child nutrition, transportation, curriculum alignment, leadership coaching and evaluation. I've coached and taught at three different schools including Forsan ISD in Forsan, Texas, where I am now. My daughter, Erin, actually ended up playing basketball at Seward County Community College and at that time, my son was in high school and going his own way, so I decided to step down from coaching and focus on being a principal and all of that work. Then, in 2018, I became the superintendent at White Deer ISD, which is just outside of Pampa, Texas, and I was there for two years before the Education Service Center recruited me. I was there almost two years before I realized my calling was more in the schools themselves and being among the staff and students – I enjoyed my time working with the center, and I worked with some great people, but I was just more drawn to being in the school buildings.”
However, Richardson admitted, it took a little while for his interest in the field to be properly piqued.
“My wife, Jamie, has also been in education, and she taught at a local high school while I was working as an electrician and with UPS. I kept thinking 'I want to be a coach,' but she'd said 'You can't do that, we'll never see each other!'” Richardson said. “So I became a supervisor with American Cotton Growers, which is owned by Plains Cotton Cooperative Association, and I worked there for about a year and a half and was doing some youth basketball coaching on the side and helping some of those programs. There was one day when one of the coaches I was working with told me 'I think you missed your calling, you really need to do this as a job.' I did a little digging and found a couple job openings, and I realized that's what I wanted to do, so I started coaching. I loved it, and in terms of moving to the administrator side, I'd received an offer from a school, and it took a bit of time to decide because my wife and I really liked where we were. But that superintendent told me 'You need to take a step up and be an administrator. You're doing a great job, you really need to look into this.' I ended up really liking that, and he's the one who ultimately convinced me to also become a superintendent myself because he thought I'd be good in that role. So I had some great mentors and some great people who believed in me and convinced me to go for it.”
Overall, Richardson said, education has been his calling.
“Education is my calling and my purpose and be a role model for students and be there for them as an administrator,” Richardson said. “I also enjoy working with people and helping them become successful and reach their own goals. I believe a good culture is the number one driving force for success in any organization, so everything I'll be doing as a leader will be to either start up or build upon the culture.”
Richardson added he and his family are already familiar with the area.
“As I said in my intro letter, my family and I became familiar with Liberal and the great community when my daughter played basketball for Seward County Community College. The people were always so friendly and welcomed all of us as if they knew us for years, and I watched how the community embraced my daughter and helped her to grow into a great young woman and a great teacher,” Richardson said. “She was mentored by many people in that community and school system when she also served as a student teacher at Cottonwood Elementary School during the fall of 2019. We absolutely loved that, and my wife and I knew we would want to be part of such a community because all of that warmth just spoke volumes to us. When the job became available, people from Liberal actually reached out to me and suggested I apply, so it was easy for me to decide to go for it.”
The opportunity to be part of USD 480 is very exciting, Richardson said, and he plans on getting to work quickly.
“I'm excited for the challenge. At this point in my career, it's exciting to make the jump to a bigger educational entity. I look at the facilities and other groups/organizations in Liberal, and through the relationships I've built there, I know the people in the community are going to be invested in making USD 480 the best it can be, and I want to be part of that,” Richardson said. “I do have an entry plan, though there are details being worked out since I'm not there. I plan to spend a few days here and there in Liberal working and getting to know people so I can learn what's going on with the happenings of the district. Pre-entry, I'm going to get in contact with all the administrators and building staffs and set up times to visit every school so I can get to know everyone and assure them I'm there to learn as well. My main focuses will be what's going well that should be continued, what are some improvements that can be made, and what are some aspects that aren't going well that can be either changed or outright cut. I'll be looking for input from everyone so I can get that information and so work can continue in those areas. I'm excited to see all the different extracurricular activities and academic programs and everything that happens with them, because that's where the students really shine.”
Richardson said he is looking forward to becoming a Redskin.
“I want the community to know I'm really excited to be coming to Liberal, and I'm very blessed to have this opportunity,” Richardson said. “I take these students' education personally, and I know we, as a district, will do everything we can to ensure these students get a quality education they can take with them after they leave. We're really excited to be part of Redskin nation, and I can't wait to get there to Liberal and meet everyone in the community.”
