After a three day cross-country drive from Pennsylvania with Heinz, his St. Bernard, Brian T. Ginter took up his post as the new principal, arriving just weeks before the beginning of the new school year.

“I drove 12 to 13 hours the first two days, and then drove the last couple hours from Reno to Sacramento on the third day. I was just focused on getting here, so I didn’t do any sightseeing, but I would say that Park City, Utah, was the most picturesque,” Ginter said.

Heinz not only provided company during the drive, but provided comic relief.
“At my first stop in Iowa, I asked the hotel [clerk], ‘Do you accept pets?’ and she asked if he was under 20 pounds. So, I told her no, I have a St. Bernard and he’s 150 pounds! She asked if he was nice and I said yes, so it wasn’t a problem,” he recalled, laughing.

Now, having met with the staff and seen the campus, he is “definitely ready” to take on the challenge of leading the school and learning a lot of new names.
“To me, a principal is someone who has leadership, but they lead with actions not words,” he said.

Ginter, however, is not ready to take action yet. He plans to review how the school works before making any changes.

“Whenever I come into a new district, I like to see what the culture is and evaluate what takes place and what goes on. I’m always evaluating to see what works and what’s efficient,” he said. “If you see things are going well, there’s no need to change anything.”

Ginter worked for three central Pennsylvania school districts before coming to Rio. He taught science and agriculture at Blue Mountain School District for five years. Then became vice principal in the Conestoga Valley School District, working in that position for three years before he became principal for five and a half years. Then he changed to Warwick School District and was principal for one and a half years there.

“When I first became a principal, the biggest thing for me to learn was putting together a schedule. To put a high school schedule together is very complex,” he said. “Ultimately that’s what got me hired.”

Ginter said he was bound to become a teacher, as his father was a teacher and his mother worked for a professor at Pennsylvania State University. His brother and sister-in-law are also in education.

“My family really got me interested in education because it was all around me,” he said. “It had a direct impact on what I do now. I hold education in a high regard because of them.”

Taking after his father, who was a biology teacher, Ginter taught eighth grade environmental science, 11th grade general science, and ninth through 12th grade agricultural education.

“When I was in high school and my brother or I had a science report or project to do, we would do our best with it. Then our dad would critique our work and he was very rough on us, but that was good in the long run,” Ginter said.

Even though he “enjoyed interacting with kids”, teaching was not enough. Ginter wanted to make an even bigger impact, so he moved up the ranks and became a principal.
“As principal, I get to make more of an impact with parents and students,” he said. “What I’m doing affects all 1500 students each year.”

Ginter attended Pennsylvania State University, where he received his Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Education. Then he received his Master of Educational Leadership degree from East Stroudsburg University.

“I started [college] in a forestry program, but after the first semester, I dropped it because for every one job, there were 500 applicants. So, I went into agriculture education. It combined things I was interested in, like the outdoors and the environment, with teaching,” he said.

Not only was he an academic, but in high school, Ginter also was very athletic, playing football and baseball, and wrestling. He also coached these three sports while he was a teacher, so he gained athletic experience as both a coach and a player.
Then, through college and until he was 26 years old, he played baseball semi-professionally for the South Penn League.

“I was an athletic student who played three sports and I was in the National Honor Society. So, I guess I was an athletic nerd,” he said.
Having been an athlete himself, he understands the need for extracurricular programs.
“Any program that’s strong is great. You have to support them all, and support the people running them. I think extracurriculars are wonderful. It builds strong character,” Ginter said. “I think they’re essential to education.”

In the face of budget cuts in sports, he plans to bolster the program by overseeing the staff and attending games.

“Support from my end is working with the athletic director and coaches. I have to make sure everything that needs to be done is done and everything that needs to be there is there,” he said. “Being at games is another way of being supportive.”
At the age of 37, after growing up and living in Pennsylvania, Ginter made the trek to California. The reason for this drastic move: his wife, Rebecca Wachtel-Ginter, who grew up in Fair Oaks and graduated from El Camino. The two got married last April in Reno and planned on living in Pennsylvania for five years, but she preferred California and wanted to move back to her home state.

“I moved here because of my wife. She wanted to get back. She liked it better here,” he said. Now they’re house hunting, looking in the El Dorado Hills area. According to Ginter, his wife is in charge of that ordeal.

Not only is the weather different, but the structure of the school system is also new to Ginter.

“In Pennsylvania, the campus is one huge building all under one roof because of the climate. The setup of the school is completely different here. I like [Rio’s] campus better because it’s like a mini college campus,” he said.
As he begins his first year as the school’s principal, Ginter wants the students to know that he is available and willing to help.

“If [the students] need to see me for any reason, if the door’s open, even if I’m working, they can stop in to discuss something with me. I try to be accessible.”

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