Westside High School selects new principal: Jay Opperman

A modest man from the city of Hastings, NE, Jay Opperman enters Westside as the new principal this July with a lively attitude and ambitious goals. A real people person, the North Dakota native has built a commendable career serving the Nebraska education system, and plans to crown it at Westside High School in the years to come.

After answering an ad in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Opperman took his first job teaching science in Hastings, Nebraska in 1989. For the next thirteen years he taught at Hastings High School, until becoming assistant principal in 2002. Since 2004, Opperman has been the principal of HHS, and will now take the same position at Westside this coming school year.

“Westside has a great reputation, academically, in the state of Nebraska.” Opperman said. “Obviously great ACT scores, but I think more importantly – I knew it had modular scheduling, and I’m not going to pretend I could build a modular schedule – I just see great opportunity for students to be able to learn in an environment that I think really respects them.”

Opperman was further impressed by the interaction that occurred between himself and the staff during interviews, as well as the camaraderie that he saw between teachers and students in classrooms.

“How [staff and students] treated me, how we interacted…the quality of the interaction I saw.” Opperman said. ”Even though I didn’t step in for long periods of time, I could just tell that high levels of learning were expected, but done in a way that I think students are really involved in their education.”

The new principal brings the same attributes in his demeanor, and hopes to foster likewise quality connections between administration and students.

“I’m big on relationships. I want people to be invested, and I want to be working together towards common goals. I want people to have input, and then we need to come to consensus on where we’re gonna head.” Opperman said.

Opperman plans to strive for input and accessibility from Westside’s students, staff and parents. He believes in shared, unified leadership, and hopes to give a voice to the community through his influence.

“I really think that it’s important to have distributed leadership,” Opperman said. “And that’s not just among staff, that’s also communicating with student groups about their education, and so my vision would be really to make connections early.”

Although anxious to enter a school twice the size of Hastings High, Opperman believes that he has the tools to augment such a sizable environment. Self-described as “calm under pressure,” Opperman says that he is able to analytically observe a situation, and avoid making rash decisions.

“I’m kind of like watching ducks swim – you don’t see all that going [on] underneath. I’m thinking, I’m working, but I really try and keep a calm demeanor on the outside. I have to stay calm and focused and use my analytical abilities and my communication abilities to work with people around me.” Opperman said.

Overall, the North Dakota father has a humble outlook on his upcoming entrance, along with his Sophomore son and seventh grade daughter, to Westside this summer.

“I’m just incredibly excited about coming to Westside Community Schools…I have a plan to start getting to know staff, students, and start building those bridges…just to continue the good things that Westside has done, but also…to look for areas of growth and to always be improving.”