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Schools

Get to Know Him: St. Michael-Albertville High School's New Principal-in-waiting, Bob Driver, Has Big Plans for the Future

Just three years into his time with St. Michael-Albertville schools, Driver has earned the respect and trust of a school board that named him principal last week.

“When I hired [assistant principal Bob Driver], he came with such high recommendations that I knew at some point in his career he would certainly be a head principal.”

Outgoing St. Michael-Albertville High School principal Dale Carlson definitely hit the mark on that prediction, and likely even sooner than he initially imagined.

Bob Driver, currently an assistant principal at the high school, has been chosen to take over the top spot upon Carlson’s retirement at school year’s end. Which means Carlson’s premonition will become a reality just three years after hiring Driver.

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 To get the job as high school principal, Driver went through a month-long process that consisted of interviewing with two different committees, which were made up of teachers, parents, counselors, students and support staff in one committee and district department heads and more teachers in another. He also submitted a writing sample and a leadership profile assessment before heading into a final interview with the two superintendents and school board representatives.

“Mr. Driver was the overwhelming choice of all participants,” said assistant superintendent Dr. Jim Behle. “He is enthusiastic and passionate about STMA High School.  Those that have worked with Bob spoke of how his leadership and personal relationship skills have already been a positive influence at the high school.”

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Driver came to St. Michael-Albertville High School after spending three years in Richfield and nine years in the Buffalo school district, both as an English teacher and their Dean of Students at the high school. With his father teaching in the Robbinsdale school district for 38 years, Driver said he had long wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps as an educator.

“When I got into teaching, it just felt right,” he said, noting that he also did a significant amount of coaching for both boys and girls in soccer, tennis and hockey.

The leadership opportunities he took advantage of along the way felt like a good fit for him as well, so Driver decided to continue on that vein with an administration degree from Hamline University-where he had also earned his master’s degree in education.

He applied for the assistant principal position with STMA during a busy time for the district, as construction on the new high school building wound down. He started his job during the last year at the "old" high school, and helped his new colleagues transition the school into a new facility. It's an experience Driver said he’s "grateful" he got to be a part of.

Now settled comfortably into the new high school, Driver said the future at St. Michael-Albertville High School looks busy: for the last handful of years, each kindergarten class has stacked up larger than ever before, and they will continue to bring an increasingly large student body to the high school for many years down the road.

Even for next school year, Driver said 85 more freshmen are coming into the school than the out-going senior class currently has. That will increase the population at the high school from more than 1,400 this year to nearly 1,550 next year. The building's capacity is about 2,000 students. 

Beyond student population growth, he expects the school to continually transform under his leadership as technology advances and better ways of teaching students are found and implemented. He also envisions even more community involvement with the school, and increasing achievement through providing a range of challenging courses, careful lesson planning by the school’s teachers and a continued focus on being ‘student-centered.’

“My philosophy is ‘relentless improvement,’” Driver said. “To be better today than we were yesterday and be better in a month than we are today. We’ve got a solid foundation to grow upon and move forward.”

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