By Debbie Adams
Travis Anderson has been named as an assistant principal at William Byrd High School, replacing Alan Moore who left at the end of the school year to become the Southwest Campus Pastor for Fellowship Community Church (FCC).
Anderson was named as Byrd’s first dean of students in July 2019– a new administrative position, which Superintendent Dr. Ken Nicely described as “a step below assistant principal. They work with students and supervise students and activities but do not evaluate teachers.”
Anderson grew up in Mechanicsville, Va. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in mathematics from Virginia Tech, a Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Virginia Tech, and a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership from Radford University.
He began his career with Roanoke County Public Schools in 2012 as a math teacher at Cave Spring High School. In 2018, he became the testing coordinator at William Byrd High School.
As for how he came to be a Byrd, “I heard from a good friend how great the school was, so I jumped at the chance to be able to follow him here. I’d heard that the WBHS area is a very close community, much like my hometown I grew up in.”
As for his special interests, Anderson loves Hokie football and seldom misses a game. He also loves spending free time with his family, especially visiting the zoo.
“I have enjoyed the opportunity to serve at WBHS the past two years and wanted to serve in a new role where I could help support the wonderful instruction that is already present at Byrd,” Anderson said on being named as assistant principal.
WBHS Principal Tammy Newcomb noted, “Mr. Anderson started at William Byrd as the testing coordinator. He then moved to the dean of students. In both positions he excelled. He is invested in the William Byrd community and will serve well as the assistant principal.”
Phillip Martin has been appointed as the new dean of students at WBHS. He is from Botetourt County and graduated from Roanoke Catholic School, where he was a standout in basketball. He also played basketball at Radford University where he earned his undergraduate degree in philosophy and social sciences. He went on to receive his graduate degree from Radford in Educational Leadership. His wife is also an educator, teaching English and history.
Martin taught for nine years in Roanoke City at both John P. Fishwick Middle School (U.S. History) and Patrick Henry High School (World History and World Religions) and then made the decision to go into administration. He says he had heard great things about WBHS from friends at Patrick Henry and applied for the dean of students position when it opened up.
His role in this unprecedented year of dealing with COVID-19 will involve work with attendance, discipline issues and student interventions, and dealing with bus duty, tardies, and fire drills– freeing up other administrators to focus on the classrooms and instruction.
As dean, Martin will ensure that students stay in contact with the school and their teachers whether they choose the blended instruction of two days a week in person learning/three days per week online learning, or full time remote learning with RCPS Online or the RCPS Online Academy. He will keep an eye on whether they are keeping current with assignments and reach out to their families. He will also work to build relationships with students in a year when he will not get to see them five days a week to begin with. Part of his job additionally will be helping teachers to find resources for instruction as they prepare to teach in person and online.
In his free time, Martin enjoys outdoor activities—biking, hiking, and kayaking.