From a young age, Dorothy Ortiz wanted to coach, teach and lead. Now Ortiz finds herself as campus chief at Milam Elementary Magnet.
Ortiz, her husband, Dusty, and two children, Maybree, 8, and Luke, 11, moved to Odessa for Dusty’s new position as Odessa High School football coach.
Last year, Ortiz’ first year with Ector County ISD, she was assistant principal at Burnet Elementary.
“I did a lot of principal duties off and on last year at Burnet,” she added.
Previously, Ortiz was at Keller ISD just north of Fort Worth.
“I really have enjoyed everything that I’ve learned from the different entities that we used at Burnet last year like Opportunity Culture and Big Rocks,” Ortiz said.
Keller ISD has very high performing schools, she said.
“… (I) had a lot of fun working at a Title I school and learning some new things about what it takes to help students close those gaps and have high success. Really, it’s very similar to what you do at a high-performing school. You just need to make sure that those things are being implemented and that those practices are in place for your staff for your students,” Ortiz said.
She is taking over for Natalie Fitzgerald who is now a director of human resources for ECISD.
“… Ms. Fitzgerald has really helped me with this transition. She’s really helped make this transition so smooth. She had a lot of great things already in place here at Milam,” Ortiz said.
Fitzgerald said that during the short time she has spent working with Ortiz while transitioning to her new role in HR, “I came to believe she will be a great leader for Milam Fine Arts Academy.”
Ortiz added that Milam offers many great opportunities for students in fine arts.
“… My goal as a principal here is to take Milam’s greatness and work with the team of staff that we have here and keep rising just continuing to make Milam an exceptional place for students to learn and grow,” Ortiz said.
The campus has just over 600 students and a total staff of 60, including more than 30 teachers.
“… I think some of the things that I’ll be bringing into the staff this year will really simplify things and make what we’re doing very efficient and allow teachers to have that planning time that they need to really prepare and make what they’re doing in their classrooms exceptional,” Ortiz said.
Ortiz grew up in Gruene and said she had “so many opportunities there” being close to Austin and San Antonio.
“… I had great teachers and great coaches in my life who really influenced me to hop on to this path,” she said.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology with a minor in criminal justice and physical sciences. She and her husband took master’s degrees in educational leadership from Lamar University.
Ortiz played college soccer and was a standout.
“I’m actually in the hall of honor, which is basically the athletics hall of fame at Angelo State,” Ortiz said.
She played forward on the soccer team, but if her coach needed her elsewhere she would do it.
“… But I did play forward and I still hold some of the records there for goals scored and points so they’re over 20 years old,” Ortiz said.
She added that she’s glad she chose Angelo State because she was able to go on academic and athletic scholarships.
“… And I was in the military as well. I was in the Marine Corps Reserves during my time at Angelo State, too. I actually went to officer candidate school and I was an honor graduate for leadership. That was for the first six weeks course. After that course, I went back to Angelo State to continue playing soccer and going to school and I met my husband,” Ortiz said.
“He wanted to become a coach and teacher and I had always had aspirations of becoming a coach and teacher as well, so when we met we both just got on that path for education and just started our journey coaching and teaching,” she added.
Ortiz was activated for six months during Operation Enduring Freedom.
“… I am a veteran, too, so when he got out to start coaching and teaching when he graduated … right as that transition was happening, I got activated for Operation Enduring Freedom, so that kind of changed my path as far as becoming an officer in the military as well,” she said.
“Because of officer training school, I hadn’t been to Marine combat training so immediately I got sent to combat training in North Carolina, then they returned me back to my unit. We had plans to go overseas to Afghanistan with my unit, but they decided to keep me at the reserve unit working with the families. I worked with the families during that time and took care of all the documentation that needed to be taken care of … to make sure that the Marines were getting paid and their medical documents were taken care of, so I just kind of stayed back at the reserve unit in Lubbock, Texas …,” Ortiz said.
Coming off that activation, she started coaching and teaching in Hereford and Dusty Ortiz started his career in Hart, where he grew up.
Her military background also helps her stay calm in all types of situations, helps her appreciate and celebrate the little things.
Currently, Ortiz is having one-on-one meetings “to really get to know my staff and make sure we are fully prepared for this school year together, and I’ve had a great time building these relationships.”
“I am also looking forward to finding more ways to involve our parents and community at Milam,” she added.
Chief of Schools Keeley Boyer said Ortiz is a very hard worker “committed to engaging learning experiences for all students.”
“She has a variety of leadership experiences, including time as both an elementary and secondary assistant principal,” Boyer said.
