Tubbs to lead Weyauwega-Fremont schools

By Angie Landsverk

Phillip Tubbs is excited to be Weyauwega-Fremont’s new district administrator.

“Everyone has been extremely welcoming and received me very well,” he said.

Tubbs began his job duties on Aug. 1.

“It’s been great. I’m extremely excited to be here and excited to meet the people and the students,” he said.

Tubbs brings various experiences to the position.

That includes being a teacher, dean of students and principal.

He grew up in Tomah and graduated from Tomah High School.

In 1998, Tubbs graduated from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse with a bachelor of science degree in exercise and sports science.

The field was a natural fit for him.

“I was always an active person. I liked athletics,” he said.

Tubbs was able to apply that interest into working with children and athletes.

His first job after college was in Phillips, where he was the aquatics director and also taught all their physical education and aquatics classes.

“That was my first experience in a leadership role,” he said.

In Phillips, Tubbs met his wife Erinn.

After working for the school district three years, he moved to Menomonie.

Tubbs was a substitute teacher and coach.

During that time, he went back to school for adaptive physical education through UW-Eau Claire and for health education through UW-Stout.

Heading east

A vacation on the East Coast in the summer of 2003 resulted in the couple’s decision to move to Vermont a year later.

“We were young. We didn’t have kids. We were newly married. Our families were in good health,” he said. “We were going to give it five years.”

In Windsor, Tubbs taught physical education and health at the middle and high school levels for three years and coached multiple sports.

He again returned to the classroom and received a master’s of education in educational leadership from Keene State College.

Tubbs then became an assistant principal in South Royalton, Vermont.

He worked there two years.

Then he and Erinn were ready to move back to Wisconsin.

When they lived on the East Coast, they could get to countless destinations within two hours.

They wanted to live in the center of Wisconsin.

Going home

In the summer of 2009, Tubbs was hired by the Tomorrow River School District in Amherst.

During his tenure there, he served as a dean of students, an assistant principal, athletic director and then the middle school principal.

Tubbs explained his interest in W-F’s position.

“It has a great reputation. It’s a strong community,” he said. “I saw it as an opportunity for me to expand my leadership.”

Building relationships is his goal.

He wants the district to have a family culture.

“A lot of my personal philosophy is the whole child, working on the soft skills students need to go out in the world and creating a culture where everyone is respectful and tolerant of differences,” Tubbs said.

That type of environment makes students feel safe so they may open up and be themselves, he said.

“I had the opportunity to do that in a middle school,” he said. “Now I want to create that in the district.”

That is the type of culture he wants for his own children.

He and Erinn have two sons: 12-year-old Trekk and 8-year-old Jett.

Tubbs enjoys fishing and golfing in the summer and curling in the winter.

He looks forward to completing the district’s strategic plan and is optimistic it can be finalized this fall.

Mental health is a topic that came up already, Tubbs said.

He said the district wants to continue exploring students’ social and emotional needs.

It also wants to look at ways it can provide resources for students and families, he said.