Jersey Village High School Principal Ralph Funk discusses supervision and curriculum development before a conference.[/caption]The 15-year principal of Jersey Village High School said being able to work with students every day is a constant source of inspiration.
“They keep you young,” he said. “When you work with students, you have to be constantly thinking and listening to them. Any time I am tired with paperwork, I can escape and go to the commons or classrooms, and it’s just amazing to see what they are accomplishing.”
Before he was hired by Cy-Fair ISD, Funk served with several different school districts throughout the state, including a stint as the founding principal of Caney Creek High School in Conroe ISD. He joined Jersey Village High School in fall 2001.
Ralph Funk[/caption]“There were five high schools in CFISD when I joined,” Funk said. “Two years after I got there, they opened Cypress Ridge [High School], which I remember because they rezoned some of our students.”
Throughout the 15 years Funk has been with CFISD, the district has experienced tremendous growth.
“[JVHS] has been sort of an anomaly for the district in that they anticipated the enrollment to flatten out as schools opened to the west, but we continued to grow,” he said. “Jersey Village is built out, and nobody can really determine why our student population continues to increase. Everybody wants to come here.”
Funk said one of the things that sets JVHS apart from other schools both within and outside of CFISD is the sense of community. The community feeling is strengthened by the fact that Jersey Village is its own city with its own government, and public safety and fire departments, all of which work closely with the school, he said.
“[Jersey Village] has always been a great community even way before I got here,” Funk said. “Any time you get a new principal, everyone waits to see what you’re going to do and what changes you’re going to make. People were very accepting when I came in, and [the city] is supportive of the school in whatever it is we are trying to accomplish.”
As far as implementing changes at JVHS, Funk said it has been largely unnecessary.
“I continued what had been started, doing what needs to be done to make sure students are successful,” he said. “The challenges lie in helping students adapt to the world that changes around them.”
One change Funk did implement involved reorganizing the school to help establish relationships and foster a sense of belonging within each student.
“The first high school I worked at had 125 kids total; I knew every student, every parent and every grandparent,” he said. “When I first came [to JVHS], we had about 3,400 students, and it was very departmentalized. Students could go through four years and feel anonymous. That wasn’t right to me.”
In 2008, Funk helped reorganize the school’s 3,600 students into four separate houses of 900 students each. The idea was to build more meaningful relationships between students and faculty.
Four years later, Funk took the idea a step further by implementing a freshman academy program to help students get acclimated to high school life.
“We tried to break it down to where every student knows at least one adult they can talk to if they are having issues,” he said. “It really gives them that sense of belonging and helps them feel closer to the school.”
Funk was recognized by the CFISD school board in February as the secondary principal of the year. The award recipient is selected based on feedback from principals across CFISD’s middle and high schools.
“It’s quite an honor,” Funk said. “Any time you’re recognized by your peers, that means a lot to a principal. It’s reaffirming of what you’re doing.”
Funk said he is honored to be able to work with the faculty at JVHS. He plans to serve as the JVHS principal for the foreseeable future.
“I’m still enjoying what I do way too much,” he said. “I love being a principal and I can’t think of any better place to do it. We’re all called to do something in life, and I’ve determined what my calling is.”
