Vic Wilson is the new superintendent of Hartselle City Schools. During his first week on the job, he plans to meet with staff to develop a strategic plan for the school system. | Brent Maze

Day One for Vic Wilson started about 6:30 a.m.

Twelve hours later after a day filled with principal interviews and other first-day activities, he’s the last one to leave the Hartselle City Schools central office on his way to meet his family for dinner.

That’s all in a day’s work for a new superintendent.

At the end of his busy day, Wilson said it had been a good one.

“I haven’t left the central office today,” Wilson said. “We had to order out pizza for lunch just because I have been so busy today with interviewing the junior high principal candidates. That’s not a normal day for me, but it’s important to get the new junior high school principal in place. We have some excellent candidates for the principal’s position.”

Once school starts back, you won’t find Wilson in his office as much. He enjoys getting out and interacting with students, staff and community.

Wilson gets that love from his time spent being a teacher coach and – most recently– principal at Mountain Brook High School. In addition to his school duties, he can also be found officiating basketball games.

In fact, he was selected to officiate the Final 48 in Birmingham for the first time this year. Since Mountain Brook was in the Class 6A boys championship, he could only call semifinal games.

“I love sports. I love music. I love drama. I love scholar’s bowl,” Wilson said. “I love to see the students do what they do.”

After just his first day on the job, Wilson was impressed by the staff of Hartselle City Schools.

“We have a great staff and an exceptional group of educators,” Wilson said.

During the next few weeks, Wilson has plans to meet with principals and department heads corporately and individually to develop a strategic plan for the system. He also wants to walk through each building several times to see what the needs are technologically, structurally and educationally.

One thing he wants to implement is customized educational experiences for the entire student population.

“We do a great job of reaching the needs of the exceptional students, but the middle-of-the-road students need to have the same opportunities,” Wilson said.

Three words that Wilson will be mentioning often are “rigor, relevance and relationships.”

“Those are words that everyone will hear me say quite frequently,” Wilson said. “I believe that is what we need to be successful in education.”