James Weaver of South Dakota to Join NFHS Staff

James Weaver, who has served as the fine arts and performing arts curriculum coordinator for the Sioux Falls (South Dakota) Public Schools the past year, will join the staff of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) July 1 as director of performing arts and sports.

Weaver succeeds Susie Knoblauch, who returned to the Illinois High School Association as assistant executive director after two years on the NFHS staff.

As the district administrator of the fine arts and performing arts programs for the Sioux Falls schools, Weaver handled the K-12 curriculum for music, visual arts, speech, debate, theatre, journalism, student council and special education adaptive arts. He was responsible for 140 staff members across 37 buildings, rewriting of the K-12 fine arts curriculum and a multi-million-dollar budget.

Before he joined the Sioux Falls schools in August 2015, Weaver was assistant executive director in charge of fine arts for the South Dakota High School Activities Association (SDHSAA) for four years. In addition to handling four all-state music ensembles, speech, debate, theatre, journalism and student council, Weaver started a visual arts component within the SDHSAA. He also transferred all of the association’s music programs to an online ballot system, which increased the speed and improved the accuracy of the music adjudication processes.

During his time with the SDHSAA and the Sioux Falls schools, Weaver contributed to several NFHS programs. He served a four-year term on the NFHS Music Committee and was beginning another term as chair of the committee. He also has been involved with the annual Debate Topic Selection Committee process and has contributed to development of new online music courses for the NFHS Learning Center.

Weaver began his professional career in 2005 as director of orchestras for the Perham (Minnesota) Public Schools for two years, followed by a four-year stint as director of orchestras for the Aberdeen (South Dakota) Public Schools

Weaver, who earned a bachelor of music degree from Concordia College in Minnesota and a master’s degree in education from Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota, will receive his doctorate in district administration from the University of South Dakota next month.

“We are excited to welcome James to the NFHS staff,” said Bob Gardner, NFHS executive director. “He has brought tremendous energy and devotion to music and speech programs in Sioux Falls and throughout South Dakota, and we are looking forward to him doing the same at the national level.”

In addition to directing NFHS speech, debate, music and theatre programs, Weaver will be the administrator for boys lacrosse, girls lacrosse and spirit. He will be staff liaison for the Boys Lacrosse Rules Committee, Girls Lacrosse Rules Committee, Spirit Rules Committee, Music Committee and Speech Committee.