What is best for our students? 

My district administrative team members know this is a question they often will hear me ask, as it is one that guides my decision-making as the superintendent of schools here at Maize USD 266. 

I am a lifelong Kansan and a career educator who values integrity and is solution-oriented. Taking the helm at Maize Schools truly has been a personal and professional dream-come-true for me. 

Before coming to Maize, I worked as the Moundridge Superintendent of Schools since 2009. I previously worked in Douglass as a principal and assistant principal/activities director and in Great Bend as a high school and middle school science teacher. I earned degrees from Emporia State and Fort Hays State universities and my District Level Licensure from Friends University. I completed my Doctorate in Education from Wichita State University.  

My wife, Drenda, is an elementary school teacher in Valley Center, and we have two adult children, 24-year-old Taylor and 21-year-old Garrett.  

Maize is a phenomenal district with incredible potential. There are countless positive developments in the works, including the $70.7 million bond issue, nationally recognized Maize Way character education, and an award-winning team of teachers. But we continue to ask ourselves: Is better possible? This is an important question as we see student enrollment growth and consider ways we can redesign traditional education.

It has been an honor to become part of the district professionally and of the community personally, and with both come responsibility that I do not take lightly. I value collaboration and cohesion and want to continue to learn about the history and legacy that has made Maize Schools and the community surrounding it what it is today. 

I want to ensure that Maize -- and its students and employees -- have great success. I aim to be fiscally responsible by striving for an efficient and strong education, not a cheap one, guided primarily by one question: What is best for our students? It will not always be an easy question to answer, but I look forward to the opportunity to seek an answer nonetheless. 

Thank you again for your continued support of this great district. We are better together working as OneMa1ze.

Sincerely, 

Dr. Chad Higgins, Superintendent of Schools 

chiggins@usd266.com