Caring Cain: Retiring Simmons principal made students feel loved

Many parents might cringe if they got a call from the principal of their child’s school, wondering what trouble their child had caused or if they were hurt in some way.

But Tracy True Dismukes loved getting almost weekly phone calls from Brian Cain at Simmons Middle School. They usually included music and singing by the principal as he sent out a recorded message to all parents.

They were entertaining and funny, even if the message was mundane, Dismukes said. She’s going to miss those phone calls since Cain retired at the end of this past school year, ending a 30-year career as a teacher and administrator.

Cain actually has been out of the school since January, when he took medical leave due to some health issues. The doctor told him he needed to take the rest of the year off, and during that time, he realized he could no longer afford to commit the same time and energy he had been putting into the job.

The 50 to 60 hours per week were contributing to his health problems, so Cain — a father of two teenagers — decided it was time to retire and move on to something else.

Cain, 53, in July becomes the facilitator for the Hope Leadership Academy, an initiative through The Hope Institute at Samford University that helps schools teach character development to students.

That mission fits well with what Cain has been trying to do throughout his career.

Cain spent 13 years teaching math, psychology and sociology at Vestavia Hills High School, then three years as an assistant principal at Hoover High, two years as principal at the Crossroads alternative school and the past 12 years as principal at Simmons.

Through it all, Cain said the best memories have been the personal relationships he has been able to build with his colleagues, the students and their parents. Preparing kids academically is vital, but the most important thing is building those relationships, he said.

When kids look back at school later in life, they won’t remember so much the skills they learned, but how the teachers made them feel, he said.

One of the biggest challenges he has faced is trying to figure out how to help kids who had many academic and social needs, he said. The issues kids face today are monumental compared to issues he had growing up, he said.

Kids today seem to face more pressure about how they should look, how they should dress and how much money they should have, he said. He has worked hard to create an environment at school where kids feel safe and loved, and he tried to help them make good choices, he said.

One of his favorite things that Simmons has done is starting weekly advisor classes, where groups of about 10 students are paired with a staff member to talk about making good choices, building relationships and developing character.

He also has stressed the idea of showing unconditional love, he said.

“Kids don’t have to do anything for us to love ‘em. Even when they do those things that drive us crazy, we have to love them,” he said.

It’s also important to show relentless forgiveness, Cain said. “Rarely in life do we want what we deserve,” he said. “We really want grace and mercy and forgiveness and another chance.”

Dismukes, the Simmons PTO president this past year, said Cain was the perfect person to be principal at a middle school.

“He is really a big kid at heart,” she said. “He just really understands the middle school children and how they think, and he loved them. Our entire middle school experience was exceptional, and he had everything to do with that. He really set the tone with administrators and staff to have that loving environment. When he had to take leave, everybody was crushed.”

Cain said it has been a true joy working in Hoover schools. “It was an honor and a blessing.”