UP FRONT

‘WE LOST OUR BUILDING, BUT WE DIDN’T LOSE OUR SCHOOL’

How Walnut Hill Elementary principal Phillip Potter led his community through crisis 

When the Oct. 20 twister totaled Walnut Hill Elementary on a Sunday night, principal Phillip Potter was one of the Dallas ISD leaders that stormed onto the scene. Thirtysix hours later, about 390 students and 50 staff members started school across town at the previously empty Tom Field Elementary. Now the students have created a gratitude wall and are focused on lessons. Potter became principal of Walnut Hill Elementary, which originally started in 1914, in January 2019. He received his master’s degree at DePaul University in Chicago, started his career in the Chicago public schools and came to Dallas ISD in 2013. Potter also has a master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of North Texas. He’s currently working on a doctorate at Southern Methodist University. Potter and his wife have a 2-year-old, Grace, and Evan, who is a kindergartner at Walnut Hill.

Where were you during the night of the tornado?

We had just had a date night, watching the Cowboys lose. The news report flashed, saying, “Tornado in the area. Take cover.” I became concerned about kids, parents and families in the area. And then a channel reported that a tornado had touched down at Walnut Hill and Midway. I thought, “That’s not good. Maybe at worst there will be a broken window, some destroyed shingles. Maybe the power will be out.”

What did you do next?

I was in contact with people in the district and in school leadership — my supervisor, Ms. Angie Torres, who is an awesome leader, and Elena Bates, the principal at W.T. White, who is a great friend and person. Her husband, Dave Bates, is our executive director of maintenance and operations. I called Central Control, our Dallas ISD police, and asked for updates. Central Control called back and said, “Someone saw your school from the road. It’s not good.” At that point, in collaboration with school leadership and our district leaders, it became a sprint to plan the next day, figure out how to talk to staff and make a decision about how much we would allow this to define us.

What’s the first decision you made as a leader?

We’re not going to let this define us. As long as people are OK, we can figure it out. My tagline became, “We lost our building, but we didn’t lose our school.” We love the history of our building and the community. They’re very special, but the school is the people and the culture.

How quickly did you and the leaders get the students and staff here to Tom Field Elementary?

About 36 hours after the tornado. Tom Field was completely empty. We started mapping out where everyone would be placed, had our staff meeting, set the tone and talked about our resolve to stick together. And then on that Tuesday, it was incredible. It’s hard to imagine the organization efforts that went into that.

What were the challenges?

T he commute and the changes were an adjustment. At first, we had some staff members say, “Commuting took me a long time.” You just adjust. We’ve taken our culture and our routines and put them in a different building. When the students got out of the cars, they were still smiling. They were happy to be back.

What did you tell the kids and staff on the first day?

“Welcome to Walnut Hill, welcome home.” We’re going to be Walnut Hill whether we’re here at I-35 and Royal or over on Midway. We are settling into a temporary home and bringing our signature — our student work, high standards and cultural diversity.

What kind of personal toll has this taken on you? The support was so overwhelming immediately. I knew we were going to be fine. It was a blessing it didn’t happen during the school day and that we didn’t lose anyone. It’s an opportunity to move forward stronger.

What are your goals going forward?

The school just received its second National Blue Ribbon. I want a world-class education here. We want to continue that path toward national recognition. We have a dual language, talented and gifted and two-way dual language program. We want people to choose our school.

A lot of neighbors want to know how to help.

I sug gest everyone go through DISD Partnership and Volunteer Services at dallasisd.org/tornadorelief. The larger donations are managed by the Dallas Education Foundation. The response from our community, United to Learn, our partners and parents has been incredible. We have school supplies, and the technology is coming [as of November]. We want to work with our leadership to be good stewards of the money and spend it on the right things at the right time. We need to think about the long term.

Walk The Walk

Sam Williamson attempted to walk 100 miles around White Rock Lake to raise awareness and money for first responders

NOT MANY 52-YEAR-OLDS

voluntarily agree to walk 100 consecutive miles to raise money for charity, but this mission hit close to home for Sam Williamson.

Days before Williamson attempted the “Walk the Walk 100” to raise $100,000, his home was damaged in the tornado that hit North Dallas on Oct. 20. His house’s windows were broken, and the roof was blown off.

“That’s why I was so committed because within minutes, the first responders were there for a week around our house protecting us,” he says. “I was really reignited and fired up to go do this thing in their support and their honor.”

In the weeks leading up to the event, Williamson says it was important to suppress doubt and continue training.

“I had logged over 500 miles, but my longest one-time walk was only a few weeks before, and it was five and a half hours of just nonstop at 20 miles,” Williamson says. “I thought at that point, ‘I have to do this five more times. What have I got myself into?’”

As a professional actor appearing on episodes of “Walker, Texas Ranger” and providing voiceovers in national and regional commercials for companies like Taco Bell, Wingstop and TXU Energy, he had no previous athletic training.

Williamson started the walk at 5 a.m. on Oct. 26, a nasty morning at White Rock Lake with cold winds, mist and rain. After completing a few laps, people started dropping in to keep him company.

One by one, veterans and civilians would pop over the hill and strike conversation. One man, who had lost both feet in the Army, ran a charity called Rebuilding Warriors to provide service dogs for veterans. Williamson’s wife, Molly, joined for 30 miles without any prior training.

When night fell, the walk started to get strange. The fog rolled in and Williamson began seeing things that weren’t there.

“I said, ‘Well that’s funny. The last time we lapped this thing they were having a party here, but they left this big blow-up dinosaur, that’s crazy. I don’t remember seeing that.’” And his walking companion said, “That’s the light in the trees, that’s the reflection going on.” Williamson laughed and said, “I guess this is what sleep deprivation feels like.”

At this point, Williamson was fatigued, sleep deprived and lacking nutrition. Around 21 hours in, veteran and fellow Bird’s Eye View member Brendan Weimholt joined his run.

“I stopped for a second to get rehydrated, I couldn’t keep fluids down and I kind of passed out,” Williamson says.

Weimholt called paramedics to take Williamson to the hospital where he was diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis; his muscle proteins had started breaking down and his kidneys couldn’t process it. Along with that, his knee had flared up and he had contracted a sinus infection and cold.

“If I had kept going the doctor said, ‘You may have made it another lap, but you would have ended up back here. If you had made it the next 40 there’s a risk of you being on dialysis the rest of your life.’”

Williamson had completed 60 miles and raised $30,000. A few weeks later, he was persistent to finish his mission.

“We all met two weeks later, back at the same place, sacred ground, T&P Hill where I went down, and 30 or 40 people showed up, complete strangers, family, team members,” he says.

They continued to walk a lap around White Rock Lake, racking Williamson’s total to 70 miles. He plans to add up his miles and finish the 100 he committed to.

“My why is truly, to be an example to show that an average citizen can make a difference and you don’t have to go to that extreme, but sometimes you do to get other people to do something in a small way.”