Wednesday's Woman: Debbie Dees

There was a time many years ago when Debbie Dees, principal of Brookwood High School, thought she might become Debbie Dees, dentist.

“I was 16 when I started college,” said Dees, who grew up near Vidalia and graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Mercer University.“ I didn’t know what I wanted to do. Being a dentist seemed like it would be awesome.”

Thankfully for her future students, teaching won out over teeth.

“After spending time in college athletics and at camps and coaching kids, I realized I absolutely have a passion for kids. The natural route was teaching. That’s the way things worked out for me,” she said.

It did indeed work out. Dees was recently named by the Georgia Association of Secondary School Principals.

“I was very surprised,” Dees said about receiving the recognition. “My faculty planned a surprise presentation to me. It was quite a shock.”

Dees, at Brookwood High for 15 years and principal for the last four, runs a huge ship. The school has just under 3,400 students and about 300 staff members, including certified educators; clerical, custodial and lunch room personnel; and paraprofessionals.

Dees has a regular two-part challenge at Brookwood High, which was named by Newsweek as one of America's best high schools in 2010: maintaining a high level of achievement is probably her biggest, she said.

“Another challenge is my calendar. I spend a lot of time at Brookwood High School,” she said, laughing.

But it’s always time well spent. Being around students daily “keeps you young,” Dees said. She said she also enjoys “the prideful feeling when someone in the Brookwood community accomplishes something spectacular.”

Dees went to college on athletic scholarships and also received her master’s, specialist’s and leadership degrees. She’s taught and coached several sports for 18 years.

“Athletics has always been an important part of my life,” said Dees, a longtime basketball aficionado. “I came from a very small town in south Georgia. I graduated with 35 people. We didn’t have programs for me before I was in the eighth grade.”

Past employers also include Dunwoody High School, Loganville High School, and Meadowcreek High School, among others. During a period when she wasn’t teaching, she sold athletic equipment, then moved on to selling insurance and pension plans to small companies.

Dees said she gets her inspiration from several sources, including grandmothers Sarah Lou Kight and Sadie Dees.

Her mother, Julia Dees, “is absolutely the hardest working woman I’ve ever met,” Dees said. “She loves her family dearly. She is the person from whom I received my work ethic.”

Two previous Brookwood principals, Connie Corley and Jane Stegall, “taught me incredible lessons about leadership,” Dees said.

With those traits of leadership and tenacity, Dees remains centered on being the kind of role model that her family, her staff and her students can be proud of.