By: Tiare Sarraf
Staff Writer
After having numerous interim principals come and go this school
year, Santa Rosa High School has one that is finally here to stay. Dr. Mark Ryan is excited to get to know the students and staff of SRHS better as the year progresses.
Before moving to Santa Rosa, Ryan worked at schools in Los Angeles and in the San Bernardino City Unified School District. He also worked at a public military school for 10 years. “When people think military, they think it’s a big scary place. But we just used a military model to give people a sense of structure,” he said. However, the school lost its facility lease and had to close after the school year started, and Ryan found his way to SRHS.
His first impression of SRHS was that it is an amazing school that has a remarkable history. “This isn’t a place that needs somebody to come in and change,” said Ryan. He thinks that the school needs a principal who will respect its traditions and history.
Ryan’s teaching philosophy is that every student is capable of achieving success. He explained, “Some people need more support, some people need more patience, some people need to kind of be left alone so they can figure it out on their own because that’s their personality.” He believes the job of a teacher and principal is to bring out each student’s success and believe in them.
The power of kindness, compassion and patience is important to Ryan. “We all have stuff going on in our lives . . . some of it’s really heavy and some of it’s not so heavy, but everybody’s got struggles,” he said. Ryan believes that if people—especially teachers—simply try to understand, it can make a big difference in the lives of students.
Ryan is hoping to go to many school events throughout the year, as he believes that a principal should be involved with the school and its students. He has been to a few sports events that have occurred during his short time here and looks forward to seeing more. While he is still new to the school, Ryan seems very committed to SRHS already and hopefully will be here to stay for a long time.
