Minutes after walking onto campus, Mr. Jeff Dietrich was approached outside of his office by a teacher with a problem. After spending his first few weeks at Whitney handling technological and disciplinary issues, he expected her to ask for help with the TV or a student. Instead, before 7:30 a.m., he found himself tasked with getting rid of black widows in the science building.

As an assistant principal, Dietrich has several jobs. He oversees safety, hence the spider issue, attendance and detention, along with band, cheer and dance team. Alongside Mr. Jason Feuerbach and Mrs. Jennifer Hanks, Dietrich disciplines students, specifically with the last names I through R.

Another commonality between the three assistant principals is their new role as an instructional “prep team” mentor. Teachers are grouped together based on the periods they have prep, for example Mr. Dietrich supervises the teachers who have prep third period. The groups allow teachers to share ideas in a smaller setting.

“The teachers help coach each other on the best practices, and we’re just kinda here to facilitate those instructional rounds. That’s kinda the fun part because we get to meet with the teachers on a regular basis and see how they’re doing in their classrooms,” Dietrich said.

Teams of Whitney teachers are not his first experience at coaching. For nine years, Mr. Dietrich coached football and was the head baseball coach at Del Oro High School. This year he would like to assume another, different role than the leadership position he established in the past: teammate.

“I’ll be available and approachable and follow through so I can be a good teammate; I want to help as much as I can and be here to support the students and the staff. I want to be the best team player I can be because my role as an assistant principal is to support the vision of the school,” Dietrich said.

Mr. Dietrich’s past work experience as a coach and technology teacher has had several effects on his new position and adjustment.

“The hardest thing so far has been getting to know students because I’m no longer a teacher so I don’t have that contact every day in a class. I was always a teacher who had a classroom full of kids and a baseball team full of kids. Now I’m walking around not knowing anybody. So the hardest part is not getting to know the adults, but getting to know the students and getting that connection. The only real connection I get now is in office because of a discipline issue or some kind of concern,” Dietrich said.

Additionally, his knowledge of technology has shaped one of his goals for Whitney.

“I used to teach a class at Del Oro like C-STEM here, so one of my jobs is technology, mainly with redesigning and focusing up our technology support for our teachers on campus,” Dietrich said.

Although Mr. Dietrich has not continued to coach since his transition to Whitney, he still shows his love for sports through physical activity or watching professionals.

Mr. Dietrich said, “I have an 8-year-old Dylan and 5-year-old Felix, and they both play sports, so they keep me busy. But I’ve always been a big sports participant and sports fan, so if I were to do something outside of work, it would be related to sports or exercise. I still play a lot of basketball and golf and do other outdoor activities with my kids like camping.”

by EMMA ACCACIAN, ALIANNA AVILES, CAMERYN OAKES and DANICA TRAN