The Plan for Hillcrest with Principal Rule

Hillcrest High School has been around for a numerous number of years and has had many different people as its principal. Mr. Varun Rule-Pandey is now our current principal of Hillcrest High School. Way before Mr. Rule had the chance of becoming the principal, he had not only taught here for nearly two decades, but he has also graduated from this exact school. With all this in mind, there is no doubt that Mr. Rule is very passionate about Hillcrest High school.

Focusing more on the future of Hillcrest, we were able to get an exclusive interview with our new principal, Mr.Rule, about what plans, concerns and ideas he has for the school. He confidently stated his main focus would be making sure students and staff feel safe within the school. Safety along with respect. For students to respect one another along with their teachers and for teachers to respect the students. Along with safety and respect, reputation also seemed to be on Mr. Rule's mind regarding the school. “Image, we don't want a bad image for Hillcrest.” He listed things such as students making it to school on time to get to classes, teachers and staff keeping up with their jobs. 

When asked about rules, our principal kept in mind to not overburden kids with rules as it might have the opposite effect. Mr.Rule states that he wants the students to just go to class and have a good time learning. While on the topic of rules, there is a new ID rule where students and staff must have their ID around their neck while in the building, as a form of identification. Mr. Rule states “We tried to do it in a way where everyone is ok with it, even in other buildings everyone needs some sort of ID when going to a hospital, cops, etc.” From this statement alone we can see he is trying to assure students and staff are comfortable with this new rule even if it might be a necessity for safety reasons. Along with that, “Having students with ID helps a lot because it moves the building along faster like swiping in the morning.” Our principal has even gone as far as to look at this from a timing perspective where instead of every student typing in their ID number they could just swipe and be on their way to class. Unfortunately with most plans there is sure to be an obstacle, some students are losing the ID’s on purpose, “We will have to start charging them to get a new one if you lost more than three as it costs the school money to keep making them.” When speaking more on this topic, students will only be charged $2 but it will be some sort of wall to stop students from purposefully losing their ID’s. 

When asked about rules, our principal kept in mind to not overburden kids with rules as it might have the opposite effect. Mr.Rule states that he wants the students to just go to class and have a good time learning. While on the topic of rules, there is a new ID rule where students and staff must have their ID around their neck while in the building, as a form of identification. Mr. Rule states “We tried to do it in a way where everyone is ok with it, even in other buildings everyone needs some sort of ID when going to a hospital, cops, etc.” From this statement alone we can see he is trying to assure students and staff are comfortable with this new rule even if it might be a necessity for safety reasons. Along with that, “Having students with ID helps a lot because it moves the building along faster like swiping in the morning.” Our principal has even gone as far as to look at this from a timing perspective where instead of every student typing in their ID number they could just swipe and be on their way to class. Unfortunately with most plans there is sure to be an obstacle, some students are losing the ID’s on purpose, “We will have to start charging them to get a new one if you lost more than three as it costs the school money to keep making them.” When speaking more on this topic, students will only be charged $2 but it will be some sort of wall to stop students from purposefully losing their ID’s.

      Apart from rules, other concerns Mr. Rule has is making sure there are enough SLC’s to support the students. “I would like them to have enough training to start careers and support their future.”

When asked if he sees Hillcrest growing as a community or will he focus more on the students that have potential? He stated, “Everyone has potential and skills. I’m always telling so many students, do the best you can but ask for help if and when you need it.”

      When asked about more extracurricular activities such as Entrepreneurship courses and even cooking classes, Mr. Rule seemed open to the idea but regarding the cooking classes and things of that nature it would be difficult from a safety and supplier point of view. The amount of ingredients that will be needed, who will teach these classes, and he’ll even have to think of every possible accident that could happen and take measures to prevent those situations from taking place.  

• Extra tip if there are any juniors or seniors there are courses and classes that you can take for entrepreneurship.

  From everything Mr. Rule has done so far and all that he plans to do, I feel, along with many others, that school has become more of a comforting place for students. The way the school year has been so far is a reflection of how well of a job Mr. Rule is doing. We all look forward to the future of Hillcrest.