Major life events tend to create opportunities for reflection. I am currently experiencing a major life event and I am certainly finding myself reflecting on the memories of my career at Triton Public Schools. I made the decision to finish my career at Triton at the end of my contract in June of 2025. I have truly enjoyed serving the Triton Community over the past 31 years. I feel blessed to have been able to work with so many wonderful people. The Triton communities are an amazing place with a great school district. It is hard to believe that my career here will be ending, by I am grateful to have such a great experience here in education profession.
There have been a number of changes to the Triton School District that officially began in July of 1992. Prior to my arrival, the three districts of Claremont, Dodge Center and West Concord were coming together to become Triton. This was a year before I arrived in the fall of 1993. When I started back then, the district had an elementary school in each community and a junior high school in West Concord and a 10 through 12 high school in Dodge Center. The district had five total buildings to maintain. Economically, it isn’t very practical to spend the overhead that is associated with operating that many buildings. Over the years, the operational and financial benefits of operating one site came to a reality. It is never a popular thing to close a school building, especially when you think about all of the memories and sentimental value that is associated with those structures. The reality for a school district is that you must do the best you can afford. I do feel that the district is in great shape with the facilities that we currently have, even though the growing pains were a reality.
I spent much of my career in West Concord, many of those as the principal of the middle school until it was closed and moved to Dodge Center in 2009. The fall of 2002 was my first year as a building principal for the Middle School. West Concord was a Junior High School the year I arrived in the fall of 1993 as a physical education and health teacher. With the transition of grades levels and changing structure of our facilities, West Concord had evolved into a middle school. It was an intermediate building from the fall of 1997 until again becoming a middle school in the fall of 2002. I worked as a Dean of Students and an assistant principal in grades 7-12 in Dodge Center from the fall of 1997 until the spring of 2002.
I was happy to have the middle school concept back in West Concord in the fall of 2002, as the middle school concept was something that I was passionate about and believed in very strongly. Leaving West Concord to come to Dodge Center was a difficult time. I loved that the middle school was developed and had their own space, but I also understood the financial issues that made it difficult to continue using the learning space in West Concord. I continued as the middle school principal in Dodge Center from the fall of 2002 until the spring of 2014. I ended up spending 14 years of my career as the middle school principal.
The fall of 2015 I began as the 9-12 principal for the high school. I remained in that position for 5 years until I started my current position as the superintendent in the fall of 2019. I am proud of the great things that are happening in our district and the learning opportunities that are at Triton. Our district is a great place and there are many things to be proud of, and I feel fortunate to have been able to spend my entire educational career here. I look forward to hearing about all of the great things that will be happening here in the future and know that the district has a great staff that will continue to do amazing things.
Please reach out to me with any questions that you may have regarding our school district. You can email me at schlich@triton.k12.mn.us or you can call me at 507-418-7530 to reach me at the district office. I would be happy to set up a time to meet with you or your organization. Communication is an important aspect of my job responsibility, and I welcome the opportunity to gain experience from your perspective. GO COBRAS!
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