Rick Lasley is retiring as principal of Apollo High School after serving 6 years in the role, and he said his last 5 weeks are going to be bittersweet.
With 32 years in education under his belt, Lasley said that he knew he was ready to leave this year. But saying goodbye to the Eagle family is going to be the hardest part of the departure, he said.
“There is absolutely nothing at all that I’ve ever experienced like the Eagle family,” Lasley said. “… The places that I had worked with before were close — obviously they took care of each other — but there’s something about the Eagle family that is hard to describe until you’ve been here and worked here and been a part of it.”
He said these past 2 years have been some of the most difficult and different years in his tenure.
The pandemic aside, he found himself assisting with new duties. For example, when school was back in session in August, there was a shortage of cafeteria workers — so he stepped in to aid as a cashier.
Lasley said he was able to see the students in a new light — and behind a new desk — developing new relationships and conversations with them daily.
“Those types of experiences … although it has been the most difficult year I’ve ever had in education, it’s moments like that that have made it the most rewarding for me,” he said.
And that goes hand-in-hand with the lesson Lasley plans to take with him beyond his time at Apollo: Every kid is worth fighting for.
He said at previous schools, he had a student body roughly one-third the size of Apollo, so getting to know students was easier because he could focus on a smaller group of kids. He learned that the same practice can cause some of them to get lost in the shuffle of the school.
Lasley said he would always be sure to meet the students where they are, and to understand that each one comes with a set of circumstances and needs an individualized approach — even if that meant looking at things through a different lens.
“Every kid is worth fighting for and everyone has their own special circumstances and needs and so on and so forth. Every kid deserves to have the best education that they can,” Lasley said.
Lasley said he looks forward to continually supporting public education even in retirement.
He said he plans to finish strong as principal but also will prepare a way for his predecessor to succeed once they are chosen. On his way out, Lasely is overseeing committees that are helping develop new codes of conduct based on the most recent school years, developing a schedule, bringing in new hires, and more.
Finally, he hopes to let the Apollo family know how thankful he is for the time he’s spent with the school.
“It’s just really been an uplifting job that I’ve had here,” he said. “I feel blessed to have worked with the people here and trying to do our best for the students every day.”
