Mira Costa High School principal resigns
Mira Costa High School Principal Julie Ruisinger will leave the district at the end of the school year. Photo by Casey Rumble
by Andrea Ruse
Mira Costa High School Principal Julie Ruisinger announced Thursday that she will resign from her position with the district when the school year ends in June.
Ruisinger will become the principal of an alternative high school in Austin, Texas, where she and her husband lived and worked as educators before coming to the South Bay.
“It’s kind of bittersweet,” Ruisinger said this week. “There is a lot that will be hard to leave here, but there are a lot of things for us in Texas. The prime motivation to get back is that we were educators in Texas and we’ve realized that to get the whole retirement thing worked out for us, we need to move back.”
Ruisinger’s announcement came days after Manhattan Beach Unified School District officials announced that Superintendent Bev Rohrer will be replaced in July by Dr. Michael Matthews, currently the Assistant Superintendent, Human Resources of Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District.
“It’s the responsibility of the superintendent to direct the process, then bring a recommended candidate before the board,” said Carolyn Seaton, MBUSD’s Executive Director of Educational Services. “Ultimately, Dr. Matthews will make the decision as to which candidate gets recommended the board.”
Manhattan Beach Unified School Board president Ida VanderPoorte said that the head of the high school may not be an easy position to fill in such a highly-involved community.
“The principal of a high school is one of the most difficult positions to fill,” she said. “We’ll have difficulty finding a replacement.”
After 30 years of living and working as an educator in Texas, Ruisinger moved to the South Bay and was hired in 2004 as a vice principal at Mira Costa. The following year, she was promoted to principal.
“She has been a good leader for the school,” VanderPoorte said. “If she is in the middle of something and a student needs to talk to her, the student always comes first.”
Six months ago, after reviewing retirement options, Ruisinger and her husband began a job search that spanned Texas. Both were hired as principals in the same Austin school district, with Ruisinger at Academy High School.
“I’m really excited to be doing a really different job,” Ruisinger said. “I think I will get to spend more time with the students than I do now.”
Ruisinger said that her replacement better be ready for constant movement.
“It’s busy at Mira Costa,” Ruisinger said. “There is so much going on here and programs are always getting better.”
Before Rohrer’s departure, she and Matthews will collaborate on the search for high-quality candidates, according to Seaton.
“You want someone who understands all facets of working with all the stakeholders in the community — students, teachers, staff and parents,” she said. “It needs to be someone with a strong background in high school education, and with the other aspects of a good leader, like being a strong communicator and understanding the importance of building relationships.”
Ruisinger hopes that her successor will continue carrying out some of her goals, including the alignment of benchmark tests in all departments.
“I’ll miss the people here,” Ruisinger said. “I’ve loved working with the district. It takes just the right mix of people to make it work like this. I’ll never be at another place like this. From being here I know what excellence looks like and can see how it takes an entire community to make that happen.” ER