Tait Danhausen Is Healdsburg High School’s New Principal

When school starts back up this fall for the kids at Healdsburg High School, they’ll have a new principal: HHS alum Tait Danhausen. He’ll be returning to his hometown from Tennessee, where he’s been serving as a principal and administrator for a public charter school system called LEAD Public Schools for the past 14 years, according to Healdsburg Unified School District officials. “Mr. Danhausen sought out the HHS Principal position exclusively as he felt a calling to return to and serve the community that invested so much in him,” they said in a press release last week, “and we are very excited to welcome him back! Once a Hound, always a Hound!” More from the district’s announcement: “Mr. Danhausen will be coming full circle in his educational career, as he was raised in Healdsburg and graduated from Healdsburg High School in 1998. As a student at HHS, he participated in drama, competed in track, tennis and cross country, where he was part of the 1997 Sonoma County League Championship team (coached by current HHS teacher and Cross Country coach Mike Efram). Education is also part of his family’s local legacy as his grandparents both taught in HUSD for many years and his mother served as a teacher in the nearby Mark West District. Mr. Danhausen holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego in Political Science, an Master’s in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) from Long Island University, and a Doctorate in Learning Organizations and Strategic Change from Lipscomb University. He is an expert teacher of English Language Development, having taught in New York City public schools and in Oakland through the KIPP system. As a Principal in Nashville, he was able to transform two middle schools from being identified by the state as low performing to high performing.” Maybe this time will be the charm for the musical principal’s chair at Healdsburg High. Outgoing principal Francisco Manriquez only stayed for one year — and his predecessor, Amy Jones-Kerr, only stayed for two. Before that, Bill Halliday served four years as HHS principal after a long stint at the junior high. (Source: Healdsburg Unified School District & Healdsburg Tribune & Healdsburg Tribune & Tait Danhausen via X)