Jay Opperman has proven that it is possible to be an excellent principal without fitting into the stereotypical old and crabby principal mold.
Every Hastings High student knows who Mr. Opperman is. Mr. Opperman knows (almost) every Hastings High student by name. That’s part of the reason why it is going to be so difficult to not see his comforting figure around the school next year.
For the past two years, Opperman had been searching for a new administrative job. Last Friday, he was offered a job as the principal of Omaha Westside. And on Monday morning, he announced to staff members that the 2015-2016 school year would be his last.
Omaha Westside High School’s student population averages around 2000 students in grades 9 through 12, which is nearly double that of Hastings High.
Opperman’s main reason for making the school change was his hope for a future career in district-level administration, and he believes that moving to a bigger district would provide better access to those opportunities.
“This is really about long term goals for me. I was looking at career wise, ‘Where do I see myself five, six, seven, or eight years down the road?’ And I really felt for things that I thought were down the line for where I thought I could see myself going,” Opperman said.
The principal of 12 years was very selective in this process, and only applied for administrative positions in districts that he felt could provide him with the best opportunities.
Additionally, he doesn’t necessarily see any huge differences in store for him with the change.
“I’ve been around enough to know that any place has its own challenges. I wouldn’t say that I go out and consciously work on public relations here, but I do think with that job I’m going to have to be more conscious about contacting different student groups and teachers. I think that my first job is really to build relationships and then go from there,” Opperman said.
From coaching his kid’s team to attending various games within the town, residents of Hastings are familiar with Opperman. The PR will have to be much more intentional with his new job, because of number of students and residents in the district. Opperman said that the feedback he receives currently is more likely to come from a conversation in the hallway, and he knows it will be a change of pace at Westside because students will be less likely to open up to him at first.
In just over a decade, HHS has seen many new programs that are in line with Opperman’s main goal of relationship building. Without his administration, the school probably would not be familiar with Freshman Mentoring Program or even the study hall-esque T3. The purpose of T3 wasn’t to simply smack on an extra 40 minutes of learning, it was truly about relationships.
“One of the things we were struggling with was our relationships, and giving one kid an adult they can connect with. That’s one of the things we started with in T3. And then we decided how to attack that after building on it,” Opperman said.
Superintendent Craig Kautz will be making the decision on who the new Hastings High principal will be in the upcoming several weeks. It could be a familiar face from the Hastings district, however the position isn’t limited to current staff members. It will be a tedious process to find a principal as understanding, friendly, and hardworking as Opperman, so the new applicants will undoubtedly need to be very qualified.
While he doesn’t immediately see any problem areas he would like to focus on in the highly respected school, Opperman plans to use the same method of prioritizing relationship building at Westside.
“My job isn’t to go in right away and change everything, I need to be willing to listen to students and build relationships. My job is to be accessible to students, because they should have a voice in what’s going on,” Opperman said.
If there is one piece of advice the HHS principal wants his students and staff members to know, it’s that everybody has value.
“Just because they don’t have the same talents and skills that another person has, or they’re not good at the things you’re good at…both kids and adults…treat them like they have value,” Opperman said.
It is absolutely going to be a hard time giving up the ironically friendly administrator of Hastings High.
