After 13 years, Jefferson High School Athletic Director Dan Sturdevant is calling it a day. Sturdevant, who is also the school’s director of maintenance, will continue in that position.
For more than the past decade, Sturdevant has not only managed the responsibilities of being athletic and maintenance directors, he has also covered JHS sports for The Boulder Monitor for 32 years. Sturdevant had two daughters who attended Jefferson, which inspired a love for the school that has led to his years of service. When the position of athletic director opened in 2009, Sturdevant was approached with a request to apply—and he did, because he “loves the school and the students,” he said.
Tim Norbeck, the school’s superintendent for the past nine years, said that “I have greatly enjoyed working with someone so organized, and it has been good to work with someone so dedicated and respected by his peers.”
In addition to his work at Jefferson High, Sturdevant has been the District 5B president and the Southern B Division president for high school sports in Montana.
Sturdevant’s decision to resign as athletic director came from the time-consuming nature of the position.
“It takes many hours to do the job in the correct way, such as being at all sports and other functions that are held at JHS at least a couple of hours before and an hour after, finding help for the functions, making sure referees are here, setting up the facility for the event, and the list goes on and on,” he said.
The position not only covers these duties, but also the creation of the activity schedules, coordination between schools, equipment management and travel management. The job requires extensive understanding of each sport’s rules, the Montana High School Association rules and Jefferson High School policies. Sturdevant added that although he will greatly miss the opportunities of working with other schools and the students, he is looking forward to being able to enjoy the sporting events in a more relaxed manner. Plus, he will continue as maintenance director and he will continue to cover the school’s sporting events for The Monitor.
Sturdevant took on the position of maintenance director in 2014. In his decision to continue in that position, Sturdevant said that “with the aging electrical, plumbing and overall maintenance required to keep the school operating and in good shape, it requires a lot of time and effort to make sure the school is ready for the students each day.”
He is continuing in the position of maintenance director in order to keep the school in good, clean and usable condition for the students and staff, he said, and to be involved with an upcoming multimillion-dollar expansion and remodeling of the school. Norbeck, who is leaving JHS at the end of June, said that Sturdevant’s history with the school will be extremely beneficial in planning and managing the school’s expansion in the upcoming years.
Jefferson High School’s Board of Trustees officially accepted Sturdevant’s resignation as athletic director at their regular meeting on May 17. There are plans to rework the job description, said Norbeck, and the school opened the position for in-house applicants first, and then will open it to the public.
