New SCHS vice principal Robert Griffin has spent several years in education, beginning his career as a business teacher before moving to school leadership. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from California State University, Chico and a master’s degree in School Administration from San Jose State University.
Griffin’s journey of becoming a vice principal was shaped by many of his past leadership experiences, especially coaching baseball and soccer.
“I love being a vice principal because I get the chance to impact more students – make a difference in the lives of more students. When you coach or lead or teach and students know you care, it creates a ripple effect,” Griffin said. “That’s what made me want to leave the classroom and take on more leadership – to make that impact schoolwide.”
While Griffin finds meaning and purpose in his current role, it is not the job he had imagined for himself.
“My dream job was actually Coordinator of Student Services. It’s a district-level job, and I did it for 13 years,” Griffin said. “It’s a hard job because you’re dealing with all the school district discipline and attendance, so it’s a lot of negative interactions with students that are getting in trouble – students that are causing problems. I was good at it, and that’s why I did it for so long.”
In his new role, however, Griffin enjoys the daily experiences. Compared to his district job, he believes what he does now has more personal interactions with students.
“Here, I’m spending maybe 10 to 15 percent of the time in meetings. The other 90 percent of the time, I get to impact student life and connect with students, connect with teachers,” Griffin said. “That’s what I love about my work right now – I’m spending way less time in meetings and way more time actually talking to students and learning what’s important to them.”
A typical day as vice principal includes meetings about student safety, school wide events, student’s grades and more. Plans, however, often change. Griffin shared that flexibility has become one of the most important and unexpected parts of the job.
“Being a vice principal is kind of like being at the emergency room at a hospital. You come to work expecting to do certain things and before class even starts, you’re pulled away to do something totally different. Every day, it’s like triage – you take care of the most urgent things first and adjust the rest as you go,” Griffin said.
As vice principal, Griffin knows that some students believe he has control over things he does not – one of the most prominent ones being the way teachers handle their classes.
“It’s hard to maintain control of the instruction because we have 80 teachers on this campus, so it’s really hard to know what everybody’s doing at the same time,” Griffin said.
Yondr pouches, though, are working, according to Griffin. For him, the rule is not about control but about the genuine connections students create.
“Students are actually talking to one another again and building real relationships,” Griffin said. “On the second day of school, one of the other administrators came to me and said, ‘Do you hear that?’ There was a buzz around campus during lunch – students were talking to each other again, not just looking at their phones.”
Through experience with coaching to district-level roles, Griffin believes his new position gives him fulfillment in having connections with students and responsibility with leadership.
“I’m actually excited about coming to work again in a sense that I can actually talk to students, learn what’s important to them and try to help create opportunities for students.”