I am adding this page as a work in progress. My Career Dash post in October of 2025 had many drafts, most of which found the bottom of the trash can. One of the drafts had way too much information about my own career. It did not make for great reading, but I still think it’s worth putting down, even if no one else is interested. I need to add my jobs before I graduated college, maybe a few pictures, and maybe the jobs after I formally retired.

Here’s a thrown away part of my writing process, and a glimpse at my education career around the state of California:

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When I left for college 45 years ago, I had no idea that my life and career journey would end up 2000 miles from my wonderful Arkansas home. It has me reflecting on my journey of living and working in a wide variety of locations, and leaves me thinking that if I had the opportunity to do it over again, I’m pretty sure I’d each do it exactly the same way. 

I look for understanding from the great philosopher of Apple TV fame, Ted Lasso. In the Rainbow episode, which is a true masterpiece, Ted’s soccer team is going through a rough patch. He tries to inspire his players by sharing his belief in “Rom-Communism.” Ted loves romantic comedies, and he believes there is much to be learned from them. He tells his team:

 “If all those attractive people can go through some light-hearted struggles and still end up happy, then so can we. Gentleman, believing in Rom-Communism is all about believing that everything’s going to work out in the end. Now these next few months might be tricky. But that’s just because we’re going through our dark forest. Fairytales do not start, nor do they end, in the dark forest. That’s something that only shows up smack dab in the middle of a story. But it will all work out. Now it may not work out how you think it will, or how you hope it does, but believe me. It will all work out.  … Our job is to have zero expectations, and just let go.”

I’ve loved my journey too, though I never would have predicted my six-district, five-area-code path over my nearly four decades in public education.

• I never even dreamed of being anything but a teacher when I started teaching in the San Lorenzo Unified School District near Oakland, California. I worked with an amazing group of new and experienced teachers and did my best to help my students reach their full potential. Many of those students and teachers are now friends and blog readers. The students I taught in those years are now in their mid-fifties. Yikes! As my dad often says about having a 63-year-old son, it’s embarrassing to have former students who are that old! 

• What I did not expect was that after just five years as a teacher, I would seek a leadership position. Part of it was because raising a family on a teacher income was really hard, and part of it was because buying a home in the Bay Area was even harder. But most of it was because I was encouraged to take on leadership positions early in my career, and I found that I loved it. So I became a school administrator in Lodi, located just below Sacramento in California’s Central Valley.

• A board election in Lodi resulted in the departure of the superintendent and assistant superintendent, Neil Schmidt and Don Shalvey, two of the finest people and leaders I have ever known. Along with half of the principals in the District, I ended up leaving Lodi after just three years, far earlier than I wanted. For the first time, I learned that as a school administrator, I don’t always control my own destiny.

• I ended up working as the principal of Malibu High School. My son Ryan was three when we moved from Lodi to Malibu. To this day, he calls it the greatest career move of all time. Seneca said, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” And the more modern philosopher Rod Stewart said, “Some guys have all the luck.” Either way, I absolutely loved that job. Many of the parents, students, and colleagues I worked with are still a wonderful part of my life. And now as a 33-year Malibu resident who loves my neighbors and my beautiful community, I know I hit the jackpot. 

• After 14 years in Malibu, serving as the principal of Malibu High School, the deputy superintendent, and the interim superintendent, I was incredibly disappointed when I did not even get an interview to be the next superintendent. Looking back, I wish I could have been less hurt by that decision. It was a decision beyond my control, and I did not take Ted’s advice of having zero expectations and letting go.

• But once again, a few years later in 2010, it worked out beyond my wildest dreams when I became the superintendent of the Manhattan Beach Unified School District. I had the honor to work with an incredibly high functioning board of education, and the team of leaders, teachers, staff, and parents I worked with remain some of my favorite people of all time. 

• I kind of retired from that job in 2021, but just a year later, ended up working as a one-year interim superintendent for the Placentia – Yorba Linda Unified School District in Orange County. I knew that I was walking into a highly contentious and hyper-political situation. The politics were every bit as challenging and stressful as I expected, but the job was one million times better than I anticipated. I absolutely loved getting to know and learning from the employees of that district, and thought it was one of the most beautiful educational cultures I have ever been a part of. One of my hopes and dreams is that somehow, that beautiful culture will find a way to come back and thrive again.

And now, in year three of retirement, I’m enjoying it even more than I thought I would. We shall see how the continuing journey goes. It probably won’t work out the way I expect, but, as Coach Lasso said, it will work out.