The Gold Standard
Alto High School principal drives students to excellence
BY LELAND ACKER

In his first year, the Henderson State University (HSU), Arkansas, freshman had two things on his mind… play football and get a job at International Paper Co. By his senior year, his co-workers at International Paper convinced Alto High School Principal Donald Patton that he was going to do something with his life.

"I always had an interest in working with students and kids," Mr. Patton said. "I started out at HSU with a major in sociology and social work. Later I switched over to education."

Mr. Patton's resume includes being the head basketball coach, assistant football coach and middle school science teacher at Timpson. His teaching and coaching career includes stints at Westwood, Edgewood, Magnolia and Mt. Pleasant.

"When I was coaching, I had been at programs with a given amount of success," he said. "At Westwood, we went 8-2, but missed the playoffs. They only took the district champion then. Edgewood won state in basketball and we made the playoffs at Mt. Pleasant."

After coaching three solid years at Mt. Pleasant, Mr. Patton was given the opportunity to move up into school administration.

"We had finished a season in the state semi-finals. In the spring I made the decision to come out of the classroom and go into administration," he said. "I became the interim assistant principal that spring. (Later) I became the associate principal.

"I knew that, going into education, I would have the opportunity to work with young people. Being in administration magnifies that opportunity."

Mr. Patton said in school administration, he can work with the faculty, students and the community to impact the lives of the students of his school. After several years as an associate principal at Mt. Pleasant High School, Mr. Patton saw an opportunity to become the head principal at Alto High School.

"Being an assistant principal is a wonderful job, but I wanted to make more of an impact," he said. "Becoming a high school lead principal gave me the opportunity to make more of an impact on the students. Coming to Alto was just a bonus."

Mr. Patton said he knew about Alto before he applied for the job.

"I knew Alto had good athletic programs and followed Steve Lofton while I was at Timpson," he said. "He got faster as he ran."

Mr. Patton was hired as Alto High School principal a few months after Alto dropped into Class A in the UIL realignment. With a veteran team returning to the field, Alto had high hopes of winning a state championship in 2006. In his first months as principal, the excitement of a possible state title ring and his first principal job was soon dampened by the accreditation rating handed down by the Texas Education Agency. Alto High School was given the "unacceptable" rating.

"It is always a major concern when students are not performing up to par according to state standards," Mr. Patton said. "As educators, we are in the business of enhancing student performance. As administrators, we are in the business of serving the public, faculty, students and working collectively with teachers and parents.

"And this is what holds me here to Alto. We have great students. They are likeable. We have a great staff and great support from our administration which can't be beat. The ministerial alliance was very supportive as well as the parents."

In addition to the vertical curriculum alignment designed by Superintendent Dr. Ray DeSpain, Mr. Patton enlisted the help of the Christian Brotherhood, who provided tutorials for students on Monday evenings. Excelling students were also enlisted to tutor struggling students in what Mr. Patton called "peer tutoring."

"The excelling students ate it up," he said. "It made them feel more valuable and useful. It instilled pride and character in them."

Mr. Patton also enlisted the student body to repaint Alto High School. After one year, Alto High School was lifted from the "unacceptable" rating to "acceptable."

"It's still in a continuous process," he said. "We still have to have new innovations to improve student performance."

His experience in his first year and a half at Alto High School has Mr. Patton smiling.

"(Alto) is a close family-knit community with parents supporting the school and school board. This working relationship is not as strong in larger schools," he said. "I think of Alto as a nice friendly environment to raise a family. I'm living in the district and enjoying every minute of it."

When Mr. Patton was asked to narrow his message down to one thing to tell his students, he said he had many things to say to them.

"You can do anything in life you set out to do," he said. "Opportunities are all around you. You have to work to place yourself in a position to meet opportunity. Without education, all opportunities for success are limited. That's what I did. I worked to place myself in a position to meet opportunity."

Mr. Patton has been honored twice by the Texas Association of Secondary Principals, once in 2006 as principal of the year (while at Mt. Pleasant High School) and he serves as the committee chair for the organization.

He was hired as the Alto High School principal in the summer of 2006. His son, Devon, was a defensive back for Alto's two state championship teams. His wife, Vearnita, teaches sixth-grade math at Alto Middle School.