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Durango High School introduces final candidate for activities director

Bright has taken unusual route to position
Adam Bright, the fourth finalist for the activities and athletics director position at Durango High School, answers questions from community members and parents at the school’s library Monday.

Parents and community members heard from the final candidate, Adam Bright, for the activities and athletics director position at Durango High School on Monday.

He was asked the same questions regarding drug testing, discipline, coach and activity adviser support and fundraising as the other three finalists at a gathering the previous Monday. The other three finalists are Guy Meyer, Jimmie Lankford and Amanda Lopez.

Bright is the activities director as well as a coach and teacher at Middle Park High School in Granby. He came to the position via a circuitous route, first working in Major League Baseball and finance.

“We were living the Dallas yuppie lifestyle,” he said, about himself and wife, Jessica, who teaches business at the school, “but we took a leap of faith because we felt we were supposed to be working with kids.”

Bright spent the day answering questions posed by an interview team and student panel as well as responding to a scenario created by a parent before meeting with the community. Principal Leanne Garcia said the job is important, as it oversees 21 athletic teams and more than 40 other activities such as student council, band and orchestra, theater, the aerospace design team, chess club, El Diablo newspaper and Toltec yearbook.

“An activities director should be the face of the department,” Bright said, “People should know who you are, know you’re approachable and know you’ll get them an answer if you don’t already have one. The AD should also coach the coaches, ‘Let’s talk program, not just team,’ because student-athletes should be praised for who they are, not what they did.”

Drug testing has been a hot topic at DHS this school year as two teams, boys junior varsity soccer and boys cross country, had incidents in which multiple students received three-day suspensions for drug and alcohol paraphernalia.

“I’m OK with it, and I’m OK if it doesn’t happen,” Bright said about drug testing. “It either has to be truly random or as part of consequences. If it will help solve the problem, let’s do it. If it’s not the best solution, let’s don’t.”

The interview team debriefed Monday night, and Garcia expects to have a references checked and a decision made by the end of this week or the beginning of next week.

“I’ve never won a game, and my kids have never lost one,” Bright said at the end of his presentation. “If the team or the high school is successful, it’s because the community of Durango made it a success.”

abutler@durangoherald.com

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