Longtime Sonoma Valley schools leader hired for St. Helena principal post

After progressing through the Sonoma Valley Unified School District (SVUSD) as a student and then working for it as a teacher and an administrator for 21 years, Andrew Ryan will begin serving as a middle school principal in St. Helena at the end of the 2022-23 school year.

Ryan, SVUSD’s human resource director, will begin working at Robert Louis Stevenson Middle School, a grades K-8 school, in the St. Helena Unified School District starting July 1.

“This was a terribly difficult decision,” Ryan said. “I love Sonoma. I have appreciated educating two decades’ worth of students, many of whom I now work with! For a time, I began to think I may never leave. However, I have never had the opportunity to learn from another district, feel vulnerable in a new community, and reflect and grow in this capacity.”

Ryan said he reached his decision after having several honest conversations with his wife, Shellie, and others close to him.

He said that as human resource director, he appreciated each employee’s journey through the SVUSD system. He enjoyed celebrating when employees landed their first job and supporting them during tough times like the pandemic.

“That said, I missed being on the front lines of the work we do with and for students,” he said. “I missed the students and working with teachers, aides, counselors, office staff and families on behalf of students.”

Ryan said he is well aware that his new role will be challenging.

“Believe me, running a site isn’t easy, and I have no illusions of what that work will be like,” he said.

While researching St. Helena, Ryan said he found that much like Sonoma Valley, the Robert Louis Stevenson community cares deeply about their students and city.

“There is a sense of pride and commitment to a greater good,” he said. “It felt like a new opportunity in somewhat familiar terrain.”

Ryan attended Sassarini Elementary School, Altimira Middle School and Sonoma Valley High School, graduating in 1998. He then attended Napa Valley College, where he played on the basketball team, and Chico State University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in education, physical education teaching and coaching in 2002. Ryan then earned a single-subject teaching credential and master’s degree in education from Chapman University in Orange, California.

He served as athletics and activities director as well as a physical education teacher at Altimira from 2003 to 2011. Ryan was vice principal of Sonoma Valley High School from 2011 to 2017 and principal of Sassarini from 2017 to 2019 before being hired for his current position in 2019.

Working alongside others, Ryan has played a critical role in strengthening SVUSD. As director of human resources, he has worked with labor leadership during the pandemic to negotiate several agreements that provide safe working conditions so that students could be served and ultimately return to school sites.

He also collaborated with union leadership to locate and provide COVID-19 vaccinations to more than 500 employees in time for their return to work.

Along with the classified labor union, he also helped to reclassify several certificated positions so that staff members received a competitive rate of pay, training and support to more effectively serve students.

At Sonoma Valley High School, he was instrumental in launching two National Academy Foundation academies and receiving grants for Career Technical Education programs.

While at Sassarini, he partnered with Sonoma Plaza Kiwanis to help establish a Maker Space that enables students to develop engineering, design and technology skills. Ryan also worked closely with teacher Laura Monterosso and other staff at Sassarini to build a Tier II intervention and support system.

“But the best thing I’ve done here is meet my wife of 17 years, and raise and enroll our three beautiful children in our Valley’s public schools,” he said.

Ryan plans to continue living in Sonoma, where his family is very involved with education.

Shellie is a math and projects history teacher at Adele Harrison Middle School; his son, Jake, is a student at Sonoma Valley High School; and son Joe and daughter Olivia attend Flowery Elementary School.

His mother, Julie Ryan, retired as an English teacher at Adele Harrison last year; his sister, Angela Ryan, is executive director of Sonoma Valley Education Foundation; and his brother-in-law, Doug Stewart, is a special services teacher at Sonoma Valley High School.

Before he leaves SVUSD, Ryan plans to continue bargaining work with the Valley of the Moon Teachers Association, hire staff for the 2023-24 school year and onboard a new director of human resources.

Reach the reporter, Dan Johnson, at daniel.johnson@sonomanews.com.