It wasn’t easy for John Graham. Graham, who has been the principal since 2010, announced recently he’s leaving Rouse to become the Senior Executive Director of School Improvement for the district.

“It was a very difficult decision to make,” Graham said. “I’ve been here since we’ve opened, I started before most of the buildings were even finished and I have enjoyed every minute and I love Rouse. I thought a lot about it, had multiple conversations with my family and some of my colleagues, it took a while to make the decision, but I am comfortable in my decision, I think it’s best for me and Rouse.”

Graham told the faculty and staff at an afterschool meeting, Thursday, April 28 and sent out an email to the Rouse and LISD community. Graham was an assistant principal at Rouse the first two years it opened and was also a history teacher and an assistant principal at previous schools.

“When you think about how many schools there are in the state, there’s only so many principal jobs to go around, so it’s very difficult to even become a principal,” Graham said. “To be given the honor to be principal here it was the best professional thing I’ve ever done and this is the only school I’d ever been principal at, I would never go to another school in this state or in this country to be a principal, I would only be principal at Rouse because I love it that much.”

One aspect Graham will miss is the interaction with the school community.

”I’m really going to miss the students,” Graham said. “I don’t get to see them as much as I would like to. I don’t get to interact with them as much because I have so many other things I have to do as principal. I’m probably gone off campus as much as I am on campus, but if you ask my assistant, the first thing I do when I walk back on campus I tell her ‘I’m going to go into the hallways so I can at least see some of the students.’ I enjoy watching them do great things and be successful. Shaking their hand as they walk across the stage is the greatest highlight that I have every year, because I know that they have worked hard and that it is difficult to be a teenager, to be a student and to watch them all excel makes my day. The teachers will tell you the same thing, I come to school every day for the students and every decision I make is for the students, I try to always put them first.”

The district is currently gathering a hiring committee which will include three teachers from the school, a LISD high school principal, the assistant superintendent of Human Resources, and the Senior Executive of School Improvement who leads the group. The committee interviews applicants after they applied in the district and submit a video where they answer questions sent to them. Although the committee has the input, teachers, parents, and students will be included in the decision as well.

“Every teacher on campus was sent a survey to fill out in what they would like to see the next principal,” Graham said. “The parents will be sent a survey to get their input. The committee takes all that information and all that feedback, and based on those qualifications, they try to find the best person to fit what the teachers and the parents and the students want for their principal at the high school. It might be a month, Bret Champion is going to make sure that he has the best person for the school and if it takes a couple of weeks, great. If it takes more time, then that’s what they’re going to do because they want the best principal for the school.”

For new job with the district, Graham will oversee elementary, middle and high school principals.

“It’s a new challenge,” Graham said. “There’s a lot of things I do at Rouse that are not challenging anymore and it’s because I’ve done it for so long and I’m ready for that next challenge. The selfish side of me is excited because I get to spend more time with my family.”

Throughout the years, Graham stresses a lot of things on kids to help them maintain a positive attitude and to keep a level head. He tells students these things to improve their lives in and out of school, knowing life is what you make of it and no one should ever forget that.

“After each RNN, they say ‘Have a great day or not, the choice is yours,’” Graham said. “Life is made up of choices, and we can choose the attitude that we have. We may not always be the smartest, we may not always be the best at sports, but we can always be kind to each other, and we can always treat each other with respect and dignity. I want our students to always be known as those great community members that care about each other regardless of their background, and that makes me more proud of this campus than anything else. When you walk on to our campus, and I’ve been to a lot of campuses, but when you walk on to our campus, yes, when you put 2400 teenagers together, you’re going to have concerns, you’re going to have days where we not all get along. For the most part you can walk through these hallways, and regardless of the way you look, how you speak, what you believe, I think we can could agree that we get along pretty well and we all treat each other pretty well and that means a lot to me. That’s how I want students to remember me by, I always try to be nice and kind and supportive as much as I can and I want them to be the same way.”