New RTM Superintendent Ready for First Day of School

As the first day of school looms over students and they begin speed reading through their summer reading books and as parents cringe at the school supply lists they need to fund, Rose Tree Media’s new superintendent has already had his first day of class.

Jim Wigo has been working all summer to get himself, his teachers and staff and the students ready for a new school year with a new superintendent.

The appointed after and Wigo has been sitting at his new desk since July.

Wigo comes to RTM after 37 years in the education profession. He’s been a teacher, an assistant principal, a principal at a high school and an elementary school and most recently assistant superintendant for curriculum and instruction at the Upper Darby School District.

Wigo, who has three adult children two of which are also in the education profession, says it’s been a "super transition" all summer and he was able to work with Kerr for about six weeks prior to her retirement.

"I had a foot on both sides of the raging river. I was completing some projects at Upper Darby while I was trying to get involved in some projects here," he says. "Dr. Kerr did a great job with helping with that transition."

Wigo says he is ready for school to begin and really start his new job.

"I feel like I’m in football practice, where it’s practice, practice, practice and I’m waiting for the game to start. The game will start when the buses are running and the students start filling up our buildings," he says.

Wigo says he has an overall vision for the district and wants to help make it a world-class school district.

"It’s a very strong school district and it is truly on the verge of becoming a great one and I really see my mission here as helping the school district to take that one or two extra steps for it to be recognized as a world-class school district," Wigo says. "You'll know when you’re a world-class school district when other districts, who are experiencing similar issues to the ones you’ve already solved, come to you, and ask you how you’ve done it. We’ll know we’ve arrived when we have people knocking on our door."

Wigo says he is excited to learn from the RTM staff and teachers just as much as he is ready to teach.

He says when he first became an elementary school principal after having been involved with secondary schools for many years he entered the position thinking he knew everything there was to know about education.

"I really thought that I was going to go in to those elementary schools and kind of just unpack my bags and show them everything I knew and wow them with my wonders. But the fact of the matter is elementary school children and the parents and teachers of elementary school children, will teach you far more than you could ever learn," Wigo says.

Wigo has met a few of the students so far through summer school programs and sports teams and plans to meet the entire district’s student body on an informal level rather than a formal introductory assembly.

"My goal is to get into individual classrooms," he says.

He’ll attend facility meetings at each school and then hopefully meet the students in their classrooms as oppose to the masses.

"It’s going to take a little bit of time but I think it’s more personal that way," he says.

The RTM community is fortunate to find themselves in this district, Wigo says. 

"It’s a fine, fine school district. I can guarentee them that we will always have the students interest at heart and always put students first. It is what we do. It’s our industry, our mission, our vocation and we all realize the impact that you have not only on individual children but on a community and ultimately on the country," Wigo says.