Douglas alum appointed district HR director

Before a 20-year career with the Douglas County School District, Adam Dedmon walked the halls as a student. Now, after taking on many roles including tutor, coach, teacher and administrator, he’s been appointed executive director of human resources.

Dedmon was recently appointed to the new role which was announced during the Sept. 12 school board meeting.

“We’re excited to have Adam joining the DCSD leadership team and I expect he will do great things in our Human Resources department,” said Superintendent Keith Lewis.

After graduating from Douglas High School in 1994, Dedmon received two master’s degrees, one in teaching English to speakers of other languages from the University of Nevada, Reno, and another in Educational Leadership from the American College of Education. Additionally, he holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of Nevada Reno.

Dedmon started his career in 2000 as a secondary teacher at Kingsbury Middle School teaching English, math and French.

His second year as an educator brought him down to the Valley, where he’s spent most of his career at Carson Valley Middle school teaching English and French and for the past five years as assistant principal and principal at Pau-Wa-Lu Middle school.

“I grew up here and went to Douglas schools, so to be back as an adult has been an interesting experience,” said Dedmon. “This is home and I’m happy to be in a leadership position in my hometown.”

Dedmon said taking on the role has been an interesting transition and he does miss being in the classroom, but he’s looking forward to being able to support the adults of the district and not just the students.

 “As a teacher you are there for the kids, but in a leadership position like this, you find you are really supporting the adults and I’m looking forward to being able to support more people,” said Dedmon, “and yes, I do miss being in the classroom, but now I get to visit more of our schools and be involved in what they are doing there which has been a lot of fun.”

Dedmon said he is looking forward to working with the leadership team.

“We have had a consistent vision which you don’t really see a lot of in other districts,” he said. “Some visions change, or new things come in, but we have been consistent in improving EPIC learning over the years and it’s fun to be a part of that in a new way.”

Dedmon’s commitment to professional growth and development is evident throughout his career, including recently becoming a certified Society for Human Resources Management professional. His experience as a Title IX investigator and term as President of the Douglas County Administrator Association highlight is ability to navigate complex responsibilities.

“There are a lot of interesting things to tackle, I’m looking forward to looking at things in a new way and to help navigate through challenges,” said Dedmon. “Things change, but some of the most important things don’t. I think we have always had great schools, it’s safe for kids and I don’t think that’s going to change and it’s one of the reasons I have stayed and what makes me excited to come to work every day.”

Pau-Wa-Lu Middle School Assistant Principal Guy Olguin will be principal for the remainder of the school year and until a  new principal is hired. Visit https://www.dcsd.net/careers/employment for more information.