I’ve been waiting a week to post about this since it was pending “board approval,” but I will have a new job in the fall. Last Wednesday, I accepted an assistant principal position at Loveland High School in the Thompson School District.

While this is a lateral move, and I was by no means looking to leave my current position at Greeley West, the move comes with some excellent advantages to my professional and personal life. The most obvious personal advantage is that by moving to my “home district” and my “neighborhood” high school, I have reduced my commute from 23 miles each way to 3 miles each way. With a wife, two little ones, and a doctoral program outside of my regular work responsibilities, it’s nice to know that I could put in another hour at work every day and still have more time to spend with family and working on my studies.

Professionally, I’ll be able to work under a very experienced principal with a sterling reputation who has shown an interest in making sure that I am able to continue to develop my leadership skills with an eye on having my own school some time down the road. I will be closely involved in the IB program – something we have at West, but that I have not had as much involvement in as I’d like.

On the flip side, I’ve never actually worked in my neighborhood school so it will be interesting to potentially be bumping into students more than every-once-in-a-while when I’m shopping for groceries or out with the kids.

While it’s always sad to say good-bye to a great administrative team and an amazing faculty and staff, I’m excited about the opportunities that await me in my new school.

Photo: “The decision” by Mark Twells