“In this dean of students role, I think it’s super important for me to guide and prepare our next generation of students for success,” says Kyree Brooks, the dean of students at Cardinal Heights Upper Middle School. “It’s also just as important for our teachers, counselors, and our support staff to deeply empathize and understand the nature of our students and work collaboratively, especially during these hard times for so many people.”
The Sun Prairie Area School District hired Brooks, a Milwaukee native and educator with a plethora of experience working in the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD), to be the dean of students last November of 2021. He has worked in schools throughout the district and focused on student development and community engagement.
“I became a cross-categorical teacher for the three years in MMSD. I also served as a PBIS Coach and Coordinator of Student Engagement,” said Brooks. “I worked at Olson Elementary, Blackhawk Middle School, and Madison West High School.”
Brooks attended the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater for his undergraduate studies, then moved to the UW-Madison for graduate school. He is an active community member, currently serving as the scholarship chair of the Mu Eta Lamba of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and the advocacy chair for the Urban League of Greater Madison. He is very excited to be serving the Cardinal Heights student community and helping to prepare students for success throughout their educational journeys.
“Cardinal Heights Upper Middle School is a community of about 1,200 students in eighth and ninth grade,” said Brooks. “It’s primarily a PBIS School, where we practice the rigor of high school pretty much.”
Brooks was recently accepted into the summer cohort of Educate Wisconsin to obtain a Principal Administration License. He also was admitted into the doctoral program for Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“My leadership style is really constructivist leadership,” said Brooks. “I acknowledge that every learner understands, processes and gives meaning to lessons through their own reality, and place priority and consideration on individual learner’s needs. I really believe in that. And this is a reflective process. This is a growing community and they welcomed me with open arms. I’m really happy to be a part of it.”
In his role as dean of students, he is working to prioritize student needs and retain staff of color to support all students.
“The biggest thing is community partnerships,” said Brooks. “That’s one thing that we have to capitalize on, especially during the pandemic. A lot of those agencies and partnerships that schools looked at, sort of started to diminish. In the future, I definitely think reaching out to more partnerships that are affordable for students or even free after-school programming for our students is going to be super important. That’s definitely the biggest thing on my radar.
“The second thing I feel like would benefit our students is recruiting more staff of color and retaining those staff of color will be super important for the future. Being able to capitalize the leadership of folks who have been putting a lot of years into education.”
