Results tagged “North High” from School Notebook

In an e-mail, I asked Matt Horvath, the new 34-year-old principal at North High School in Torrance, what kind of challenges he anticipates facing during his first year on the job.

"As with most schools and school districts, I feel that one of the most
difficult challenges administrators face is continuing to raise the
student achievement of a school community while facing budget
uncertainty and often times cutbacks," he said in the e-mail. "In these times we must continue to put students at the center of our decisions while not getting bogged down with things that are not in our control."

"I look forward to leading the North High School Community," he added.

It should be noted that aside from his administrative roles, Horvath was also a teacher at Banning High School.

This is our first post from new education reporter Doug Morino. He'll have his own blog account in coming days.

Matthew Horvath was named principal of North High School on Monday evening by the Torrance Unified School District Board of Education. He'll be coming over from Richardson Middle School, where he served as principal for a little more than two years. (Horvath replaces outgoing Grant Litfin.)

Prior to his stint at Richardson, Horvath served as the dean of discipline and athletic director at Banning High School in Wilmington. He received his B.A. at Wayne State University in Detroit,
Michigan in 1998, his M.A. at Wayne State University in 2001, and his education doctorate from the University of Southern California in 2007.

At Monday's meeting, Horvath stepped to the microphone and thanked the board for their support.

"I'm super excited to be a part of the North community," he said.

Board members also named Michelle Stupnik as principal at Richardson. Sputnik has a longer history in the district than Horvath; she's been either working as a teacher or administrator at Torrance schools for about 11 years.

Stupnik worked under Horvarth at Richardson as assistant principal and, like her former boss, she thanked board members for the new opportunity.

"I'm excited to take the good school Horvarth created and make it a great school," Stupnik said.

She was most recently at Madrona Middle School, where she served as assistant principal for the 2008-09 school year. She received her B.A. at California State University, Long Beach in 1995 and her M.A. at the University of LaVerne in 2005.

The appointments of Horvath and Stupnik became effective this morning.

Board members also extended the contract of Superintendent George Mannon for one year. Mannon was named Superintendent in September 2005, and his contract now runs to June 30, 2013. (It previously ended in 2012.)

Mannon came over from the Glendora Unified School District, where he served as superintendent for five years.

Board President Al Muratsuchi commended Mannon for his efforts to pass bond measures Y and Z, which provided $355 million in upgrades to academic and athletic facilities within the district.

"This past year was an extremely difficult one for the Torrance school district ... and time and time again you proved your value," Muratsuchi told Mannon during the meeting.

*UPDATE: The Torrance Unified board has approved a new principal for North High.

North High Principal Grant Litfin works his last day for Torrance Unified today, school district officials said. He's taken the top job at Los Alamitos High in Orange County.

Litfin leaves after just two years as North High's principal. He was previously assistant principal at South High, assistant principal at Lynn and Magruder middle schools, and a teacher at Magruder.

The job posting for the principal slot at North High was posted last week. Applications are due July 13, and district officials say the post will be filled before the 2009-10 school year begins Sept. 10.

Fox 11 news followed our lead on the story about the North High student who is spearheading a letter-writing campaign to fight school budget cuts. Here he is on TV:

Here's a link to the story we ran in the Breeze on Saturday.