David and Vicki Wehmeyer
	School district superintendents

hen the phone rings at the Wehmeyer home and the caller asks for Superintendent Wehmeyer, the response is, “Which one?” David Wehmeyer is superintendent for the Poth Independent School District, and Vicki Wehmeyer is superintendent for Stockdale ISD.

David and Vicki graduated together from Stockdale High School in 1971. David received a scholarship to play football at Texas Lutheran, and he soon convinced Vicki to move to Seguin and marry him. David was a fullback for the Bulldogs under Coach Jim Wacker, setting school records and leading the team to back-to-back national championships before he graduated in 1975. David became a coach – and Vicki earned her degree in 1979.

The Wehmeyers have been in the education business ever since graduating from Texas Lutheran – first coaching and teaching, and then as administrators. David became a principal in Stockdale, and when Vicki became elementary principal there, David took a job as principal at Poth. The two have been in rival school districts ever since – David as principal and, for the past five years, superintendent in Poth; Vicki as principal, assistant superintendent, and, this year, superintendent in Stockdale.

The South Texas towns of Stockdale and Poth are approximately the same size, have similar-sized schools, and compete against each other. Torch editor Kathy Hughes caught up with the husband and wife superintendents shortly before school started:

Torch: When did you become superintendent, Vicki?

Vicki – I was assistant superintendent until January – then interim superintendent. And this summer, superintendent.

David – You should know she was offered the position a number of times before.

Vicki – But because our daughter was in high school in Poth, I didn’t feel it was appropriate to accept it. I wanted to go to Whitney’s games – and to do the job of superintendent the way you should do it, you need to be actively involved in all aspects of the school. So, the timing was not right for me before. This time, when the job came open, Whitney was in college, and the timing was great.

Torch: What challenges do you have as administrators?

Vicki – The finance side. We’re in a small district – and our funds are limited. Stockdale passed a bond last year, and we’re building a new school. Finance is very important, but it is harder for me.

David – Curriculum is more of a challenge for me – but that’s because I’m not as smart as Vicki – but I am tighter than she is!

Torch: What do you feel is the most important part of your job?

David – I think the most important thing is motivating people – trying to get their best from them.

Vicki – Providing the best environment for the teachers and the children.

David – And trying not to mess things up! Vicki talks about finance. You want to be able to focus on educating the kids, but if we don’t have enough money and you have to ask for it, that kind of messes things up. I guess a good superintendent is like a good official in a game. The ones that you don’t really notice are the ones that are the best.

Vicki – They just do their job quietly on the sidelines.

David – Nobody knows who they are.

Vicki – You keep the environment so that learning can take place and the teachers are happy. Just don’t interfere with the learning.

David – You do a good job and nobody notices.

Vicki – No turmoil.

David – No board members arguing or community members upset about something – that’s really not what you want. If you’re doing your job right, in most cases you are not going to have that. Now there will be times that you’re going to have conflict that you have to resolve.

Vicki – But you’re looking for harmony. David – You’re doing the same thing as a superintendent or as a principal or as a coach.

Torch: How do you motivate your “team”?

David – Set an example. I use the same principals that Coach Wacker used – a lot of positive praise. He was very influential.

Vicki – On both of us – he and Lil - because we were around them so much - we were very fortunate. They were great.

David – When you go through your career, you are going to have to deal with ups and downs. Coach Wacker had to deal with some, too. And how you handle those situations is just as important as how you handle the successes.

Vicki – When you watched the way he made decisions and choices – it just validates it – you do what’s right, and if it doesn’t make people happy, at the end of the day, you know you did the right thing and you can live with it. So that’s about the best you can do – just do the right thing.

Torch: Being in smaller districts, do you feel the pressure of the state accountability tests?

Vicki – We have the same pressures as any school does as far as the accountability rating goes, but we stress – and my campus administrators stress – that the test is important, but there’s so much more to education. You’ve got to do more than the test or you’re cheating the children.

David – TABS, TAKS, TEAM - we’ve been through all of them. I think we are doing a better job of teaching now that there is accountability and testing. I think it helps teaching – I think it helps education. There were a lot of complaints about teacher evaluations, but I think it helps teaching and education. I complained and griped a lot about workouts at TLC, but a lot of times those things are actually good for you.

Vicki – Accountability definitely has a place in education. But one day-one test puts too much pressure on teachers and the district as a whole. Still, there needs to be accountability.

Torch: So how do Poth and Stockdale school districts compare to the big school districts?

David – I think we have fewer problems than big schools. I can see that a big city has problems we don’t have, and it is basically problems at home that they have to deal with. It ends up overflowing into the school finance issue because a large group of those kids drop out. Most of the students in Stockdale and Poth graduate. They pass the state mandated tests. They start in kinder and go all the way through with their cohorts, and they graduate. And that’s not happening in the major cities.

Vicki – Our teachers know our children. They know our childrens’ families. Our students are involved, and they have a lot of opportunities. They don’t have to pick football or basketball, but they get to be involved in a lot of things. They can be in sports and academic competitions and they make really close friends. That’s important.

Torch: In many ways, your schools sound like TLU – really getting to know the students, encouraging their involvement and engaging them academically. Tell us about your decision to go to Texas Lutheran.

Vicki – We think the decision to go to Texas Lutheran was the right one for us. And I’m always proud to tell people that. I’m always excited to get a Texas Lutheran student teacher or someone to hire from there. When I see that come through, it means a lot to me, because I know what the program is.

David – And I was very lucky to play with the group of guys that I did, and play for Coach Wacker, Coach Mueller, and Coach Westergard. That was a great time for me.

Vicki – And Dr. Menn! And when I came back, David Doerfler was campus pastor – and I always enjoyed going to Chapel because he did such a good job. So we were both very lucky.

David – Very lucky. ♦