Wes Solomon will lead a school the size of his hometown next fall when he takes over as head principal. Solomon, who grew up in the one-light town of Tahoka, Texas, and plans to take his farming, small-town mentality with him as he guides a school with grade levels more than 13 times bigger than his own. 

“There’s no job, there’s no title, there’s nothing that I’m not willing to do,” Solomon said. “So whether it’s setting up tables, chairs, doing whatever we have to do that’s kind of how I was raised.” 

Solomon has worked at Kingwood Park for eight years. He has been in education for 18. Principal Lisa Drabing, whose retirement began this week, worked with Solomon since he arrived at Kingwood Park. She said that in that time he’s done all the right things to prepare himself and be ready to take over next year.

“The last two years I’ve been the associate although I feel like it’s been 10 with COVID and the pandemic and all the different challenges,” Solomon said. 

Next year, one of the main goals is to re-emphasize the climate and culture that was altered the past couple of years due to the COVID-19 pandemic with the end of crowd limitations at events and the addition of pep rallies.

“You’re going to see consistency, you’re going to see fairness, you’re going to see somebody that will listen to kids, to parents, to the faculty and he’ll make informed decisions,” Drabing said. “At the end of the day it’ll be about what is best for Kingwood Park High School.”