FAIRMONT — Chad Brusky is the newest administrator for the Fairmont Area School District. Brusky started as co-principal at the high school on July 1.

He replaces Jake Tietje, who left for a position in South Dakota. Brusky and Alex Schmidt will be co-principals at the high school and Kim Niss will assume the position as principal of curriculum, instruction and research.

Brusky is originally from Fond du Lac, Wis. He attended Saint Mary’s University in Winona where he started on a pre-med track.

“My mom was a nurse and my dad was a doctor so I was supposed to be a doctor but I learned in college that I had a reading disability and all of these long Latin words weren’t good for me,” Brusky explained.

He changed his major to environmental biology with a chemistry minor and did some tutoring at a charter school for a semester.

“I helped some kids prep for the ACT and really liked it so I thought why not pursue education and it ended up being the best decision,” Brusky said.

He stayed in school one more year and got his Master’s in Instruction with the intention to teach biology.

“My first year out of school I was a director of school counseling where I graduated high school and hated it,” Brusky admitted.

He then moved to Minnesota and began teaching at a school in North Branch, where he stayed for 11 years. During that time, the school paid for him to get his physics degree from Hamline University.

“I taught physics, remedial biology and I also taught night classes there, created a remedial physics class and I coached tennis,” Brusky said.

He then decided to get his principal’s license from Minnesota State University in Mankato.

“After graduating I got an assistant principal job in Elk River at VandenBerge Middle School. That position lasted a year before it got cut due to budget, but they found me a job teaching wildlife biology and physics and coaching golf at the high school for two years,” Brusky explained.

Then Brusky moved to the area for a principal position at Trimont Middle School. In his second year there he got his superintendent’s license from MSU in 2017.

Most recently, he’s been the interim superintendent at Martin County West.

As for his family, Brusky got married in 2013. His wife, Megan, works at Fairmont Foods. The couple has two children, Michael, 6, and Claire, 4. Both children will attend Fairmont Area Schools.

Brusky said he is excited that this will be the first time he’s worked in the community he lives in. For the last six years, they’ve lived in Fairmont.

“Everyone has been so supportive of me coming in here. They’ve been introducing themselves and asking if I need anything. That’s something you just get down here in Martin County. It’s an amazing place to be,” he said.

As for his teaching philosophy, Brusky said, “I believe the whole community needs to be involved to provide the best for all the kids. Communication is a key piece to that.”

He said he plans to really utilize social media in order to put out updates to students and families. He also wants to make sure people know he and Schmidt are always available to talk to.

“I also want to have fun with it. I would love to showcase one of our clubs and sport teams each week just to show what high-quality kids we have,” Brusky said.

Brusky went on to say that he didn’t like school as a kid, and his goal is always to bring a lot of fun and make it a place that kids want to run to, instead of run out of.

“I always try to figure out what can you do to get kids hooked in. It doesn’t always have to be fun, but make it relatable, make it valuable for them,” Brusky said.