The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Meet Fairport Schools new principal
Along with a new academic year, Fairport Harding Middle/High School will welcome its newest principal when classes begin there on Aug. 22.
Katie Rumbarger was officially named principal of the building at 329 Vine St. in Fairport Harbor Village at the district’s July 30 board meeting.
Rumbarger, a Toledo native who began her career at the district in 1999 as a sixth-grade teacher after earning her undergraduate degree in elementary education from Ohio University, said she’s ecstatic about being named principal of the district’s middle/ high school.
“I’m just over the moon to have this honor. I really am,” she said during an Aug. 8 interview.
The daughter of two career educators (her dad was a school superintendent and her mom an assistant superintendent in two different Toledo-area school districts), Rumbarger said she’s aspired to be an educator for as long as she can remember.
“I knew from a little girl that I wanted to be in education,” she said.
Rumbarger spent about 14 years at Fairport’s McKinley Elementary School, until making the 2013, classes high stint back “After move at school. teaching when to with McKinley, merge that, to the the Harding sixth-grade district fifth I rest did but grade of do then the decided in a moved she taught said. back sixth-grade “Most to (Harding),” recently, math I and She language said Fairport that, arts.” more Schools recently, Superintendent Paolo approached Domenic her about adding another element to her responsibilities as an educator.
“Last year (Paolo) asked me to take on a more leadership/coaching-directed role and titled it academic coach,” she said, adding playing a role in making it better for everyone hasn’t stopped there. She earned her first masters degree — in curriculum and instruction — from Ashland University in 2000 and earned her second — in educational administration at Ursuline College — in July, she said.
Longtime colleague Doreen Fischer, who is vice principal at Harding, said she and Rumbarger have grown close over the years, ever since a former Fairport Schools superintendent suggested Fischer — an Avon resident — introduce herself to Rumbarger, who at the time also lived on the west side of Cleveland.
“I was told by (then-Superintendent) Joe Bergant that there was a young teacher who lived in Lakewood and we should make a connection,” Fischer said, adding that the pair became fast friends, sharing long rides to Lake County and forming what would become a strong personal and professional relationship spanning some twoplus decades.
When asked to describe Rumbarger in three words or phrases, Fischer replied: “supportive, having similar beliefs and great communication — not only with her peers. But with the students and he community, as well.”
“It has always been a collaboration — a team effort. We’ve always worked well as a team and she’s always worked hard for us as a team (of educators) working toward a common goal,” Fischer said, adding that, when Rumbarger began teaching sixth grade, she was teaching fourth grade at a time when a group of new teachers started at McKinley and she was asked to mentor them.
Rumbarger agreed Fischer has — and continues to be — a big part of the district’s successes and progress over the years.
“Doreen is a tremendous asset to this building, to the (Fairport Schools), its students, staff and the community it serves,” she said.
In terms of her own beliefs and aspirations, Rumbarger said she agrees with and feels strongly about facilitating the district’s personalized learning objectives and stands behind the district’s Vision 2020 program, by which the graduating class of 2020 will have already earned college and/or career credentials.
“Our building is working toward a (grade) 6-12 personalized learning philosophy, which is enhanced by our design lab,” she said. “And our middleschool teachers this year are working on a push for personalized learning direction in their own classrooms. The staff is going over and above to embrace an education of the whole child and social and emotional learning is a huge part of that.”
Looking ahead, Rumbarger knows she’s got her work cut out for her, not unlike educators the world over these days.
“I think the challenge for educators today is that we’re preparing our students for professions and jobs that we don’t even know exist yet,” she said, adding that she believes the Fairport Schools are on the right track. “So, with our personalized learning and design lab, I feel confident on our path.”
Although it’s tough to imagine she has much of it, Rumbarger, who lives in Concord Township Jeff, her husband of more than 20 years; 7-year-old daughter, Sophia; son, Jack, 11; 13-year-old daughter, Ava, and two Labrador retrievers, said she and her family enjoy spending their free time skiing and are beachbound for a potion of each summer for a vacation on Anna Maria Island in Florida.
She said she is also a voracious reader and collects ceramic Christmas trees — a hobby inspired by the one her Polish grandmother kept on her coffee table when Rumbarger was a child.