The Harbor Beach Community School’s Board of Education announced the appointment of Mr. William C. Chilman IV as the Superintendent of Schools. The approval came during a regular school board meeting held on Wednesday, November 15, 2023. The 6-0 vote reflects the board's confidence in Mr. Chilman's leadership and extensive experience in public education.  Bill expressed that he is excited about this opportunity and learning the Pirate way.  “HBCS has a strong tradition and I’m hoping that I will bring my strengths to the district and make a positive lasting mark on this school and community.”

William C. Chilman IV brings over 30 years of valuable experience in the field of education. Prior to joining Harbor Beach Community Schools, he served as the Superintendent of Beal City Public Schools for 17 years.  During his time there, he led two successful bond projects and helped create the development of the Beal City Education Foundation. His career in education began in 1994 at Brimley Area Public Schools, where he spent three years as a Health/PE and Science teacher, as well as the district’s Athletic Director. Winter of 1997, Chilman continued his career at Meridian Public Schools in Sanford, MI.  There he served as the principal of Meridian Junior High School for 10 years. Professionally, the small rural school environment has been his passion.  This passion includes building relationships with the school and community to foster economic growth and development.

A native of Gladwin, Mr. Chilman received his bachelor’s degree in education from Central Michigan University (CMU) and later pursued a master’s degree in educational administration from Northern Michigan University (NMU). He completed his educational specialist’s degree in educational leadership from CMU.

Mr. Chilman's intention as the superintendent will be to enhance the already established educational success of Harbor Beach Community Schools academically, artistically, and athletically. Chilman stated, “I will use a motto I have focused on over my entire career, “Educational Teamwork Today for Educational Excellence Tomorrow” He emphasized three key responsibilities he believes a superintendent should consider daily: improving student achievement, maintaining fiscal integrity for the school district and the taxpayers, and fostering positive school and community relations throughout the Harbor Beach community and the greater Thumb region.

Outside of his professional commitments, Mr. Chilman is a sports enthusiast. He also enjoys landscaping, cooking, and most importantly spending time with his family. Bill and his wife, Tami, have two sons, Bill V (his wife Alex and grandson Will) and Logan (his wife Shelby). The Chilman family is excited about their move to Harbor Beach and look forward to becoming an integral part of the Harbor Beach community and the greater Thumb region over the coming years.

As Mr. Chilman assumed his role, he hopes the Harbor Beach community will join him to help expand the educational excellence the Harbor Beach Community School Pirates have cultivated for over 100 years. Chilman does not want to abandon some of the great initiatives that Dr. Bishop and the staff have started over the last couple of years but expect to build on those initiatives while bringing a few new ideas to the table to ensure that our students continue to have a strong foundation. 

When asked, “What do you want students, their parents, and the community to know about your commitment to their success “, Chilman replied:  "I'm absolutely committed to their success.”  “Each of our Pirates (students) has strengths. All students have time, talent, and treasure to share with the world. Our job as educators is to find out what each student’s strength is and encourage, support and feed that direction. I can promise that each decision I make as a Superintendent will have two things in mind: first and foremost students and secondlyPirate pride.” stated Chilman.  

Hello Pirate Nation!

To our dedicated and hard-working school professional and support staff, to our eager-to-learn students and their parents, WELCOME BACK to another exciting school year of teaching and learning!

The 2024-2025 School Year is going to be a great year to be a PIRATE, doing things the PIRATE WAY! One of my promises to you is that teaching and learning will not stop for any reason at Harbor Beach Community Schools. If it does, then I will need to get involved and figure out why so we can solve those issues as fast as humanly possible. I would like to take this opportunity to reintroduce myself. I am William C. Chilman IV, the new Superintendent of Harbor Beach Community Schools. I started last January 1st, so I have been on board the Pirate Ship for about 8 months now. However, I have not been here for the start of a new school year, which is always one of the most exciting times of the school year. This also gives me a second chance to make a first impression with all the stakeholders in our school district and our community. I was very excited to come to Harbor Beach back in January, but I am even more excited to start a new school year here in Harbor Beach. As I told everyone in January, I must learn the Pirate Way, and while I feel like I am a quick learner I am still learning the Pirate Way along with names, families, relationships, the school, and our community. I hope to Plan, Prepare, Practice and Perform like I am the Captain of the Pirate ship so I can Play and Prosper like a Pirate in the future. My wife, Tami, and I have now purchased a home in Harbor Beach and have been taking in this beautiful summer along the shores of Lake Huron. My wife and I could not be happier to be a part of the community. We look forward to meeting everyone and continuing to build strong relationships and friendships over the next few years.

As we get ready to start this new school year together, I want to share a few changes that the administrative team and I have been working on. Another one of my promises is that we will do anything and everything humanly possible to prepare and provide a safe and secure learning environment for you, your child, and the staff of Harbor Beach Community Schools. One of the things the Board of Education has asked me to help with is our school’s safety and security plan. Last spring we had a Safety and Security Assessment done for the enter school district. We have taken that assessment and have begun working on several of the assessment’s suggestions. With that said, here are just a few of the things we have done so far that we felt were the most important suggestions made in that assessment. We will again have an SRO onsite all day, every day. This year the SRO will be Officer Dave Wilson. We also have a new interior door signage and exterior door numbering system to help first responders know where they are in our building. The principals will be rolling out a new Drop off and Pick up procedures that will allow only students and staff in the building before and after school unless you have an appointment. Along with the Drop of and Pick up procedures, we are adding three in-city bus stops so parents don’t have to drive across town. More details and info will be shared by the principals on the locations and times of those bus stops when they share the new Drop off and Pick up procedures. We will be training all our students and staff on a new updated (EOP) Emergency Operation Plan that includes the (ALICE) Action plan. (ALICE) stands for Alert, Lockdown, Information, Counter, and Evacuate, which we will teach all of our students and staff, so it is second nature to them whether they are in school or out in the community. ALICE is an action plan you can use in any situation from a car accident, another more serious medical situation, to a fire, all the way to an active shooter situation. We have added security cameras throughout the building and will be adding more this school year with large security camera monitors in each of the school offices. Some of the suggestions that were made in the safety and security assessment will be a part of the proposed November 2025 Bond issue that the School District is currently working to gather possible ideas and suggestions for. As we move through this school year, we will continue to work on suggestions that we can adjust during the school year to ensure our school is as safe and secure as we can make it. School Safety and Security is something we can all work on together. Please, help us by using your senses; if you SEE something, SAY something, if you HEAR something, SAY something; if you SMELL something, SAY something; and if you FEEL something, SAY something. We are in this together and we are stronger together, so let’s be together on this learning journey. The Pyramid of Success has the school at its base with the four sides being the Community, Parents, Staff, and Students. If we all work together, then we will have a strong foundation for teaching and learning that will increase our students’ achievement and will last for years to come.

Next, another one of my promises to you all is we will focus on our students and their success mentally, emotionally, socially, and physically. We want our students to have fun, be successful, and be happy. This promise centers on our students’ achievement in every facet of their lives. This is why we have listened to our staff and students and created Learning POD teams at three different grade levels: Elementary (PreK – 5th grade), Middle School (6th – 8th grade) and High School (9th – 12th grade). Each Learning POD team will be led by a principal who has Directorship responsibilities as well. Mr. Matt Quintino will be the Elementary Principal and Special Ed. Director. Mr. Brain Fuller will be the Middle School Principal and the Transportation Director. Mr. Aaron Bulgrien will be the High School Principal and the Curriculum and Federal and State Programs Director. These leaders along with their staff in these learning POD teams will focus on Academics, Attendance, Discipline, Social / Emotional Learning, and Student Achievement with our students. Each Learning POD team will have a sense of belonging and ownership, which will allow for greater accountability and transparency. Our motto: “Educational Teamwork Today for Educational Excellence Tomorrow.” We are shooting for something like our own US citizenship. Something Bigger than us as an individual we all believe in. Harbor Beach, we are looking for individual responsibility with a sense of belonging from the team that fosters respect and ownership in something BIGGER than all of us. The Pirate WAY!

Another promise that I make to you is that we will always be fiscally conservative, frugal, and responsible with any and all money that comes into the school district. This goes for state aid payments, taxpayer dollars for the current debt, or a proposed November 2025 Bond issue, along with any donations or gifts that come into the school district. This concept of being fiscally responsible with this sense of belonging to something larger than ourselves is why the next thing I am going to talk about is the Harbor Beach Educational Endowments or the HBEE. The HBEE is a family of endowed funds used to support Harbor Beach Community Schools, or HBCS, and its students and staff, which is housed at the Huron County Community Foundation, or the HCCF. This money is not from our State Aid payments or any current or future taxpayer money from our debtor proposed Bond issue. This money that the HBEE has endowed is money that was donated or gifted to the school district to help and support the students and/or staff with our mission of teaching and learning. As of now, the HBEE is made up of two funds: one fund is the Pirate Fund, which will grow over time to help provide general support and services to the school, staff, and students of HBCS. We will do fundraisers and other activities to help grow this Pirate Fund, so those dollars work for us. The second fund is the Storrs Family Child Saving Account Fund, which will provide a bank savings account for each student enrolled in HBCS, which they can access upon their graduation from HBCS. This very large donation was given to the HBCS to use to help and support all current and future students. HBCS has chosen to endow this gift into the Storrs Family Child Savings Account Fund so the donated donation is a gift that keeps on giving for each and every Harbor Beach Community Schools Graduate forever.

Again, welcome back for the 2024-2025 school year, and I look forward to learning the Pirate Way as well as meeting and getting to know all of you.

Superintendent, William C. Chilman IV, ED.S.

Harbor Beach Community Schools, Go Pirates!