Schools

Ruisinger to Leave Mira Costa at End of School Year

The Texan native has decided to return to her roots in preparation for retirement.

Mira Costa High School Principal Julie Ruisinger will step down at the end of the school year to take the helm at a district continuation school near Austin, Texas.

The move will ease the path toward retirement for the 54-year-old educator and her husband, Don, who is the principal of Dwyer Middle School in Huntington Beach. Each has previously lived in Texas for more than 30 years.

"In order to return at any point we need to go back and put in more years in the Texas system," Ruisinger said Tuesday. "We can't work enough years here to make it worthwhile to retire, so we've got to get back."

Ruisinger—who started out as Mira Costa's vice principal in 2004 before becoming principal a year later—announced her decision in an e-mail to school faculty and staff Thursday afternoon. Students were informed the following morning in a Web broadcast from the high school's online news source, the Mustang Morning News.

Some students and faculty expressed regret over Ruisinger's departure, and many highlighted what they described as her unique contribution to daily campus life.

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"She was super sweet and always helpful," said senior Jack Slocum, 18. "She was a big part of Costa. She was the person to go to if you had problems, and she was easier to talk to than everyone else."

Carolyn Seaton, executive director of educational services for the Manhattan Beach Unified School District, said that among Ruisinger's many strengths is her "high visibility" on campus.

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"She has demonstrated a strong commitment to classroom walk-throughs by visiting teachers' rooms frequently throughout the school year, not just for formal evaluative purposes," Seaton said. Ruisinger also attends an "amazing number" of the high school's extracurricular events, Seaton added.

Some faculty echoed that sense of ubiquity on the part of their principal and looked ahead to the task of finding her best possible replacement.

"To outsiders, it might seem that our school 'runs itself,' but a great deal of daily maintenance is required at the administrative level," said English teacher Shawn Chen on Monday. "While I am locked up in my room most of the day and can't pretend to know what most of those duties entail, Julie has been a present and visible leader—which is one quality that contributes to community trust. Hopefully the district will use this opportunity to work with all stakeholders to select a new leader who will work well with all constituents of the district's business."

Ruisinger acknowledged pushback over the years from some teachers at the school who may not have agreed with all of her ideas.

"When you want to change and try something new that's a hard thing at Mira Costa," she said. "We're basically doing the same thing that has always been done, and that's a good thing... but sometimes change isn't necessarily a bad thing either.

"It also takes a long time to gain people's trust," she added. "Despite popular belief, the school is still standing."

Some of Ruisinger's ideas have included looking at new daily class and bell schedules, as well as lowering the restrictions on students being admitted into AP and honors classes through a waiver policy.

"It's a pilot program so we'll see if it's successful," she said of the waivers. "I understand some teachers' reluctance to do that."

The district's brand new superintendent, Dr. Michael Matthews, will work with former superintendent Dr. Beverly Rohrer to review applications, interview candidates and make a final recommendation to the school board. Matthews, whose appointment was announced April 27, said he is scheduled to meet with Rohrer later this week to discuss the matter, but withheld further comment at this time.

It is too early for school officials to begin commenting on a possible replacement or even on the timeline for the recommendation process, but that didn't stop some students from speculating.

"It's really heartbreaking because next year, it will be different," junior Ayanna Jenkins, 16, said. "It will just be different because she won't be around. I think [Vice Principal Jaime] Mancilla will be taking over."

Upon hearing this, Jenkins' friend, senior Bianca Mariscal, looked up and asked, "Really?"

Jenkins shrugged. "I don't know, I think," she said.

One thing the girls knew for sure was that they were losing a principal they'd come to admire.

"We just heard about this recently through the announcements," Mariscal said. "She was the best principal, and I think everyone kind of agrees because people looked so sad about it."

In terms of overall school performance, Ruisinger can be proud of her school's consistently high rankings.

Mira Costa's Academic Performance Index (API)—a measure of a school's academic growth as established through the state's Public Schools Accountability Act of 1999—has continued to rise during Ruisinger's tenure.

With a state-set API target of 800 for all California schools, Mira Costa earned a growth score of 872 in 2009. Under Ruisinger's watch, the school also earned the best rating possible from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The athletic program was honored last year as 11th best in the nation by ESPN. Mira Costa's student-run newspaper, La Vista, as well as its arts and music programs have won multiple awards.

Not that Ruisinger sees any of that as strictly her doing.

"The school has continued to improve," she said. "I can't really take credit for that, but I was at least a part of it."


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