To fill the empty spot on the administration team, Matthew Spurk is now the newest dean on-campus.

“I wanted to work at a great school,” Spurk said. “I knew that Southwest was an advanced school with a great environment, so I knew it would be a good job.”

Due to the potential elimination of all deans to accommodate budget cuts, Pate Thomas applied for the assistant principal position at Shadow Ridge High School. 

“Personally, I think having a new dean is going to be really beneficial,” senior Maya Negash said. “There will be another person to look over the kids and ensure they’re not doing anything bad. It will also take the stress off of the other three admin because they’ll have someone else taking a portion of the work.”

Previously, Spurk served as the dean at Sierra Vista High School. After seeing the open position here, he decided to apply. 

“Both my daughters went to magnet schools, so I knew I preferred this environment,” Spurk said. “It’s not foreign to me; I know how students act at these schools, so it was an easy change”

As the dean, Spurk will be responsible for dealing with numerous things, such as disciplinary issues and also overseeing facilities, including the custodial staff. 

“The environment here is great so far and it has been a great start,” Spurk said. “I have immediately noticed that the students here are very mature. They’re all wise beyond their years, which makes working here way better.”