On March 12th, 2024, teachers and students of the Twin Falls School District were informed that Canyon Ridge High School would have a new principal, Mr. Randall Miskin. Mr. Miskin has been the principal of Canyon Ridge since the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year.
“My expectations were pretty tempered. I didn’t know what kind of environment I was getting into. It’s a good career move to move into a bigger school. I taught in Shelly, and it was a [large] high school, so I’m used to being around lots of kids,” Mr. Miskin said, explaining his expectations for coming to Canyon Ridge.
Aside from teaching in Shelly, Idaho, Mr. Miskin has experience as a principal spending years at Clearwater Valley from 2013 until 2017 before he landed an administrative role at Grangeville High School.
Canyon Ridge is the largest school Mr. Miskin has been a principal of. “There’s a lot more kids in Canyon Ridge. It’s easy to get to know the kids in the smaller school because there weren’t nearly as many of them and same with the staff,” said Mr. Miskin. “Here it’s harder to get to know the students because the ones I get to know first are the ones who are always in trouble, and so the good kids I don’t get to know as early on.”
However, Mr. Miskin hasn’t had to do it all himself. “It’s been really nice to have two experienced vice principals that know what they’re doing. The biggest challenge in a small school is having to do it all,” explained Mr. Miskin. “I was the principal and the vice principal. I was a counselor for one year while I was principal. I had to make every decision, so allowing people to do their jobs is great, but challenging. We have great people here who do great things.”
“My biggest goals were to get to know the community and to know the school. You have almost 1,500 kids and so trying to get to know them, and staff as well, was my biggest challenge,” said Mr. Miskin. “I want to feel out what the culture of Canyon Ridge is.”
Mr. Miskin has certain beliefs when it comes to leading a school. “The role of a principal is to lead by example,” Mr. Miskin said. “You have to have a good attitude and be friendly with the kids, yet consistent. I think if you set your expectations to a place where kids can understand where they are, then they’ll meet them. No one rises to bad expectations. People will do what they’re expected to do when it’s clear.”
When asked about the phone policy, Mr. Miskin said, “There’s a lot more personal interaction between people now if you compare when they walk during passing time versus when it’s lunchtime. It seems like a lot of the interpersonal communication stops because everyone pulls their phones out. They will talk to each other during passing time, but when lunch hits their eyes go down to their phones.”
This year, many students have noticed a lack of attendance days and extended lunch periods. “When we have extended lunch periods, we tend to see kids missing more classes, sometimes missing full periods,” Mr. Miskin said. “When you’re in class you learn more. It’s also a safety reason. When we have longer lunches, more kids tend to leave school, and that’s just not as safe.”
Mr. Miskin thinks that school is an important part of life for everyone. “[School] is the prelude to work,” said Mr. Miskin. “A lot of times kids come here just to pass. It’s like a basketball game. If you don’t play very hard in practice, you’re not going to be very good in the game. That’s the way school works. If you show up and work hard you’ll be prepared. There’s a direct correlation to how you do in school and how you do later on in life, so I’d like to see it get more serious for kids to focus on what’s important.”
