Kevin Ricker is the new principal of Centennial high school.
By Tim Laitinen
Ricker, the current principal of Molalla high school, starts his new position with Centennial on July 1 of this year. However, he wants to be involved with the school as much as possible for the remainder of the 2009-2010 school year. He reported that even though Molalla is forty miles away, he tries to visit Centennial to see sports games and other events.
“The hardest thing will be leaving the kids [at Molalla],” Ricker said. As someone who likes to get involved as much as possible in the student’s education in order to see them graduate, Ricker has grown attached to his students. “The point of being a principal is to see the kids succeed, and you can’t do that if you don’t talk to them and get their input.”
He also commented that the change in settings, school size, and cultural differences between the schools will be hard, but he looks forward to the challenge. “It’s definitely a larger school. At Molalla we have only about eight hundred students…I look forward to the new challenges,” Ricker stated.
Ricker is well qualified and well educated for his new position. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in English at the University of Illinois, then went and received his Masters of Teaching at Virginia Commonwealth University. He later received his Education Specialist Administration degree at George Washington University in D.C.
The process to get the job at Centennial was lengthy; Ricker submitted his resume and forms, then he had to go through interviews with the superintendent, teachers, and parents. After that he was put through a process of a history check and even had observers come to his school to see how he worked.
“They were very thorough. They left no stone unturned,” Ricker commented.
Ricker feels confident in his abilities to take the job. During Ricker’s time at Molalla the test scores have continuously increased each year and Molalla was the only high school in Oregon to win a Student Achievement Award. This is due to his constant support and communication with the students, and his ideas for running a school properly. “Do I think I can do it? Absolutely. It will be difficult, but I think I can do it,” Ricker said.
According to the Oregonian, Ricker is credited with many positive changes at Molalla High school, including chronic tardies and absenteeism. He also worked diligently to create a staff who cared about the issue of school culture.
Ricker did say he would not make any drastic changes right away. “Change is difficult. It’s hard to walk into a place and change everything…you need to understand the school and then precede with change. You have to take the public opinion and specific aspects about the school into account before you make any changes,” he said.
Many students and staff were excited to hear about Ricker’s employment with Centennial – his hard work at Molalla did not go unnoticed. Shortly after he was announced as principal, there was some concern over aspects of Ricker’s personal life that came up with Google searches. Students learned about an incident that happened in December of 2006 surrounding the suicide of Ricker’s wife.
Ricker is open about this time period in his life. “There is a difference between rumors and facts. I just hope the students give me the same courtesy that I give them. Get the facts. If there was a problem, I wouldn’t have been chosen for this position,” he said.
From the moment he was hired, Ricker opted to be upfront and open about his past challenges in an effort to leave no room for gossip and conjecture. “I can’t change that people will talk about it and I can’t change people’s opinions about what happened,” he said. But he does hope that by opening up the doors of communication, students, staff and parents will replace their pre-conceived ideas with the facts and see him for what he can bring the district instead of an incident from the past.