The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.

Meet La Harpe School Principal Sara Ryner

Meet Sara Ryner, La Harpe Elementary and Junior High Principal.

It is with great joy and excitement that I begin this school year as the newly hired Principal of La Harpe Elementary and Junior High School.

I am eager to continue my career in education with the La Harpe community where I have heard so many positive things about the great staff and students.

A little bit about my background::...

My educational background includes a Bachelor's degree in Kinesiology, the study of human movement from University of Illinois and my teaching certification is from Western Illinois University with endorsements in Physical Education and Science. I have taught 8th grade PE and Science at United Junior High School, as well as preschool at Villa Montessori in Moline. I have enjoyed being a student council sponsor, track coach and robotics team coach. I am a recent graduate of Western Illinois University's Master's program for Educational Leadership.

The decision to become a principal came while providing professional development for the new science standards to teacher nationwide.

During United's summer and holiday breaks, I have worked with the R.O.E.s, I.S.B.E. and OpenSciEd to provide teacher workshops.

I have traveled from Providence to Seattle and many places in between facilitating professional learning to groups of teachers.

I enjoy listening to a large variety of needs and collaborating with a team to adapt to meet teachers wherever they are in their own practice, while sticking to our plan of providing high quality instructional strategies within a fully aligned curriculum.

Observing and providing feedback to teachers and seeing their students thrive as they experienced new strategies is rewarding. When teachers integrate good practices with technology in meaningful ways they can turn the students into the drivers of their own learning.

Student engagement and teacher engagement can rise to a level that makes them excited and joyful about going to school each day. Learning has to be engaging otherwise it isn't happening.

Great work is already in progress at La Harpe Elementary and Junior High School. I am excited to help continue that great work and to foster a productive school culture of safety, collaboration and trust.

A strength I have discovered is the La Harpe staff's dedication to the students of this community.

My goal is to work together with respect, equity and a focus on student achievement with teachers to constantly improve the student experience. I am an instructional leader with the ability to create a unified vision for the future that includes a rigorous aligned curriculum and high student engagement.

I strongly believe in the success of all students and classrooms that are safe and focused on learning.

My personal life:..

My husband of 23 years, Joe Ryner, works for W.I.U., where he is on the leadership team for CAIT, a technology department that creates software for various clients, outside of W.I.U., who have educational needs.

We have three children, Sam (age 21), Lilly (age 19) and Max (age 14).

My best friend is Vinny (age 91), a large black loyal retriever mix. I grew up in Little York and Monmouth in a large family with many educators.

I am active on Twitter and Facebook and I love to search up recipes often on Instagram. I hope to have La Harpe school social media sites, along with my website up and linked to the school website soon for additional points of contact for daily school communications.

I have set up a new twitter account for this position. Follow me @PrincipalRyner. My email is also set up, sryner@laharpeeagles.com.

The halls are dark and quiet as I have been exploring the building. Only the buzz of the busy custodial staff is heard.

I was thrilled to see the new water fountains with bottle filling were installed by Mr. James! What a perfect gift for the students!

FUN FACT: I have never started a school year with air conditioning (that I did not try to engineer myself with ice, PVC pipes and a fan) AND filtered water (that I did not pay for). I really feel like I hit the jackpot and am extremely grateful for everyone's kindness and these amenities!

I have been meeting with many staff members and learning as much as I can before we begin our school year. I look forward to meeting many new people, especially the students in the near future.

I feel especially blessed and honored to have been given this opportunity to serve this close knit community.