With challenges ahead, Trefz settling in as SDSBVI superintendent

When the South Dakota School for the Blind and Visually Impaired starts classes Sept. 9, there will be a new superintendent — something that hasn’t happened since 1986.

Dan Trefz, who is originally from the Onaka/Tolstoy area, will be replacing Marje Kaiser. She retired this summer after being superintendent for 34 years.

Trefz has been a superintendent at the Bowdle School District and Miller School District. In Miller, Trefz was superintendent for six years. He served in the same capacity in Bowdle for two years.

But education wasn’t always Trefz’s career plan.

After graduating from Hoven High School, Trefz enrolled at South Dakota State University under the impression that he was going to enter the athletic or physical fitness field.

“I started down a path either looking at athletic training or PT (physical therapy) or OT (occupational therapy), the clinical side didn’t necessarily appeal to me,” Trefz said.

Ultimately, Trefz changed his mind and graduated with a degree in health, physical education and recreation.

“The job market wasn’t very good on that, so I tried to find a way I could incorporate that and still be involved with athletics,” Trefz said in a phone interview. “I kind of thought back to my high school career and remembered ‘Hey, I was pretty decent at math, what if I look at being a teacher?’”

Only one thing: Trefz didn’t have teaching qualifications at the time.

“It was a non-teaching degree, so I went to Northern to finish up my teaching certificate requirements, and then from there I was hired at Miller as a math teacher,” Trefz said.

In 1999, Trefz was hired by the Miller School District, where he worked as a math teacher, football coach, basketball coach and track coach.

After 12 years, in 2011, he headed north and accepted a position in Eureka where he was a math teacher and the head track coach.

Following a one-year stint in Eureka, Trefz headed for Bowdle — where he was the superintendent and principal for two years.

“Quite frankly, I am very thankful to have been the superintendent at Bowdle, a small school, because you get to learn everything,” he said. “... In a small school like that, you are the bus manager, you’re the food service director, you’re the SPED (special education) director, you’re the athletic director. You wear so many hats, but you get to learn all of those roles and what it takes to do those jobs and activities.”

It wasn’t just his job that Trefz was occupied with during his time at Bowdle. He was also taking classes from the University of Sioux Falls for his superintendent degree and was a father to two children.

“I had a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old at the same time. That was a challenge,” he said. “... But that’s the thing about challenges is they kind of show you what you can do and what you can get through, which gives you a lot of perspective while you look at other challenges.

After two years at Bowdle, Trefz returned to his beginning in Miller.

Only this time, instead of teaching math, Trefz was the superintendent, a title that he held throughout the 2020 school year. He was also the special education director and food service director.

“The fortunate thing is that I was a superintendent at Miller for six years, so I did get to deal with the (COVID-19) scenarios this spring,” Trefz said. “So that education has prepared me for going into this school year.

“We’re relying on social distancing, we are going to have our teachers wear masks where social distancing isn’t practical,” Trefz said of the school for the blind. “... Some of our instruction is hand-over-hand, or in close proximity to students. In those scenarios (with) some of those early or young elementary students, it may not be feasible for them to wear a mask, they may not understand, they may not keep them on.”

Another thing that will help the South Dakota School for the Blind and Visually Impaired is the sizes of classes. According to Trefz, there are around 20 students that attend during the day and about half of them will be staying in the residence halls.

“We’re able to socially distance quite well,” Trefz said. “In comparison to a general education setting where you have 25 kids in a classroom.”

If COVID-19 cases crop up on the campus, there are precautions set in place including a modified plan, extra face coverings and, in the worst-case scenario, remote learning.

While some of the COVID-19 precautions will be familiar to Trefz, there are some new challenges with the new job,

The South Dakota School for the Blind and Visually Impaired is part of the South Dakota Board of Regents, making it one of only two institutions that offer both secondary and post-secondary education classes.

“We operate under both umbrellas. Not only are we operating under Board of Regents policy, we’re also following (the) South Dakota Department of Education standards and regulations and accreditations as well,” Trefz said. “You kind of have to know both governances, otherwise you’re not sure which one governs which.”

Despite the change, Trefz is drawn to the challenge and is excited to get to work at his new job.

“I sure enjoyed my time in K-12, but now I am looking for service toward the Board of Regents, the students and families of students at the South Dakota School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and looking for ways I can help them get the best education possible and then also cultivating some relationships between Northern State and the community,” he said.

Another change for Trefz will be that students live on campus at the school for the blind.

It’s not only Trefz who will be dealing with new changes. In January 2020, the South Dakota School for the Blind and Visually Impaired moved into a newly constructed building on the campus of Northern State University.

In partnership with Northern, it offers a program that allows Northern students to earn a teaching certificate that earns an endorsement in teachers of the visually impaired.

“They would have qualifications to better prepare them to work with a student out at a public school or a private (school) that has a student that’s blind or (has a) visual impairement,” Trefz said.

In the future, Trefz and the South Dakota School for the Blind and Visually Impaired hope to strengthen their collaboration efforts with Northern State.

“Futuristically, we are in cooperation with Northern State. They are looking at a master’s program that involves us either through research or development for their students to learn how to teach students in our capacity,” he said.

Trefz hopes that the future program will elevate the South Dakota School for the Blind and Visually Impaired to new heights to among the best in the country.

“I hope in the near future we will be viewed as the model school, not only in the state or region, but nationwide,” he said.