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When Dr. Timothy Richard resigned last May after serving as principal for two years as Poston Butte High School, he cited the need to “focus on (his) personal life and do a reset.” He also suggested he would return to the Florence Unified School District in some capacity, perhaps even in short order.
Dr. Timothy Richard
With his “reset” complete, the time for his return has come as he has been named the principal at San Tan Foothills High School. Dr. Richard will assume his duties on July 1, pending board approval and once the now-Coolidge Unified District School is formally incorporated to FUSD.
San Tan Foothills was one of three schools, in addition to San Tan Heights Elementary and Mountain Vista Middle School, which was part of the consolidation approved by voters on Nov. 3. All three will be incorporated to FUSD effective July 1.
“I’m looking forward to getting to know the kids and the teachers,” Dr. Richard said would be his first order of business in his new job. “Just getting to know them; building those relationships with the parents and the community. Getting to know everybody, that’s the thing I’m most excited about.”
Dr. Richard has developed a reputation of improving the educational lives of students as well as improving the culture of a school. He’s responsible for integrating programs to reward students when they do the things him and the school’s staff desire.
“I will do a lot of similar things and focus on student engagement,” he said. “Focus on celebrating when kids are successful and giving them the extra support they need when they’re not being successful.”
“We’ll build some excitement and school spirit,” he added. “That’s the philosophy – to build a positive culture.”
San Tan Foothills High School
Among the more successful programs Dr. Richard has implemented is Celebration & Remediation, which helps students perform better in the classroom and built trust with faculty members.
Allowing off-campus lunch privileges for earning good grades and meeting expectations is one way in the past that Dr. Richard has rewarded students for success.
“Every single student can be successful and everybody matters,” Dr. Richard said. “We’ll have accountability, but we also need an equal amount of support and need to balance the two. Achieving that balance is something I want achieve on the San Tan Foothills’ campus.”
Andrew Luberda began writing for Copper Area News Publishers (CANP) in February 2013 after working 15 years in Healthcare Financial Management. Andy covers sports for 11 high schools. His stories are published in Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner and Superior Sun, in addition to the San Tan Valley Daily PRSS and CopperArea websites. Additionally, he has written human interest stories and business profiles. In May 2012, he earned an AAS in Sports Management at Central Arizona College before graduating with a BS in Communication from Arizona State University in 2014. He and his wife, Kelli, have three sons – AJ, Kyle, and Kade.
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