The past school year has been filled with many changes throughout different parts of the school. Besides the obvious new addition to the school, the most prominent change this year was the change in principals. As Principal Mark Meyer’s first year at De Soto High School comes to a close, it is important to reflect on how the past year has gone.

“The school year in general, to me, has been very solid. The same things I was impressed with in the beginning I am equally amazed with today,” Meyer said.

Overall, De Soto has really impressed Meyer with the quality of the teachers and staff as well as the character and attitude of everyone in the building. All of the expectations that were set from the past years, have been lived up to, leaving Meyer feeling good about the future school years.

Throughout the year it was very important to Meyer to support the school in the best way possible. This was done by attending as many events as he could and creating much excitement for everything that was happening.

“One of my goals, for me personally, was to do as much as I could, and attend as much as I could. I think it is important to be out there and go to stuff as a principal,” Meyer said.

First and foremost though, Meyer wanted to focus on the academic achievement of the school. To do this, he has established the idea of shared decision making throughout the rest of the staff and students. Meyer created different committees that made decisions about issues that needed to be addressed in hopes that the students would be able to preform at a higher academic level than before.

“I really appreciate how they really wanted to help reinforce the academic achievement piece of my goal. They were very passionate about what they did, even though I bit off more than I could chew with those committees, it was nice to get the ball rolling on that,” Meyer said.

Although these committees were not as developed as Meyer would have liked, he hopes that in the future their improvements will create an even better school environment.

Coming in as a new principal, Meyer wanted to make as little changes as possible to the school.

“My goal was to try and minimize the amount of change, but once again there are things that are inevitable. You come into a situation and you are presented with a decision and sometimes that decision doesn’t follow what has been done in the past, but it works out in the end,” Meyer said.

As the principal of a growing school, the hours and work build up quickly, leaving more things that Meyer wishes he would have done.

“I wish I would have spent more time in the classroom. That’s what I love about being an administrator; is working with the students and teachers to help make the school even better,” Meyer said.

As the year comes to a close, Meyer’s schedule is still packed full, but it does not stop him from making plans for next year. Keeping up with the standards that have been set in the past, as well as continuing to keep up with expectations for the district are a top priority for next year.

“It sounds funny but [next year] I want to just have fun. I want to keep enjoying working with the staff and the students and waking up every morning and coming to school like I do now,” Meyer said.