Photo courtesy of incoming principal Rollin Dickinson

Expressions welcomes the new SLOHS principal, Rollin Dickinson for the 2020-2021 school year. An except of this interview was published in the June 2021 edition of SLOHS Expressions. Here is the full interview, conducted in class via Zoom.

Expressions: What are your worst expectations going back to school and like coming in as principal again?

Incoming principal Rollin Dickinson: That’s a great opening question. Okay, my worst expectation. I think I’m someone who in general has high expectations for things, so I don’t often dwell on my worst expectations for things. I’m someone who loves adventure in life and there’s something odd about circular adventures that bring us back to where we started. But I think that can be a very powerful thing, to have those circular moments in life and to come back, and of course we come back in slightly different, more enlightened ways, hopefully. But I think anytime you take on a different job, or you move, there’s always risk involved in that and I’m someone who thinks it is good to take those kinds of risks in life. It also invites some kind of crisis into your life as well, and one of my thoughts about that is that self-realization is a destructive process, as well as a constructive process, so I guess those worst expectations are just being willing to experience those destructive parts and to continue to grow.

Expressions: This is just sort of just something that comes up, but our administration kind of got in some flack from some of our artsy students about not paying enough attention to the arts at SLOHS, and I was wondering what your stance is on that?

Dickinson: So I absolutely love the arts. I mean I was an English teacher and much of my life has been about poetry, novels, language, poetry slams, collaboration with painters, and playing music. I think one of the great gifts we have as humans is the ability to express ourselves in creative, diverse ways, that both get closer to truth, beauty, and goodness, but that also explode those ideas in cool ways. If you think about it in a school environment, I think we want them to be alive and culturally rich, and the arts are essential to that. I think one of the gifts we have in a school is we can create community, for one, but we can also create a space of different order and we can create our own world. It’s fun to imagine a world and to create a world where the arts are at the heart. This is just something I’m really passionate about, and when possible too I love finding my way over to the art room and being involved in people’s creative projects too. Can I ask a follow up question of like how did it feel dismissed? Like during distance learning how did it feel that way?

Expressions: [Linnaea’s] sister also went here and she was kind of a model student. She felt like anyone in the administration was not going to even know my name because the only people they remember are the basketball players and the soccer players. She played softball and was an artist, but she felt like it wasn’t really valued as much or publicized as much, and I agree with her there. Basically, I concur with the fact that the administration pays a lot of attention to athletics, which is fair, but I just think there needs to be more attention drawn to the arts.

Dickinson: I tried to do little things too, this just occurred to me while listening to you talk, I’m sure a weekly newsletter exists that the principal sends that goes to all students and staff and the community, and I tried to include as much student art as possible. Just little things like that matter for creating community but for also lifting up students who are doing these really cool things in our community.

Expressions: Did you have any teachers that still work here, if not, what teachers did you remember during your time at SLOHS?

Dickinson: I didn’t have any teachers who still work at slohs. Somewhere Mr. Lemkuil was there, Mr. Simon was there, Mr. Winninghoff was there.

Expressions: Do you have any new thoughts and ideas, or plans, for the future of slohs? If so, what are they and why?

Dickinson: A lot of the role at the outside is to support the good work that’s already happening and to support the growth, but that always needs to happen in an organization. I’m not coming in with a pre-set of ‘this is the thing that needs to happen’ with any school, or with SLOHS in particular. On the outside, it’s coming in and listening, paying attention, and being present and being positive. Often, the ideas exist already and the problems exist already, and there are many ways to coherently move those forward in a way that leads us toward our vision and purpose. I’m really excited about that and all the conversations I’ve had so far have been really inspiring. It’s so great to be talking to students, now too, because you are all obviously at the heart of why we do what we do. I set up all these 15 minute zoom meetings with staff members for the weeks to come, and I’m actually going to be able to come by next week for a day and a half; all of that is the process of building relationships and moving forward in a positive way together. I think the only thing I would add is that I think as a whole, we have a really unique opportunity next year. The question is, how do we move forward in a way that is way more alive, connected, and meaningful? I think we’re all craving that in different ways and we’re experiencing this in different ways now too. I think that’s an opportunity that we all are excited to help be a part of, and let’s not forget what a powerful opportunity we have.

Expressions: With much of the general population focused on Black Lives Matter, Stop Asian Hate, LGBTQ+ rights, and women’s rights, what are your goals and focuses when supporting and representing minorities on campus?

Dickinson:  I think this takes on a lot of forms. It’s at the heart of the work that we do as a community. I think about this year that we’ve had and a big defining part of the year we’ve had is about the pandemic, of course. A big part is about really important conversations about racial justice and how to be a society that really does lift people up and works through differences and divisions and finds a way forward that affirms identity, builds community, and cultivates leadership and activism. All those things are super positive, and I think there is a way forward that does all of those things. We’ve used the term windows and mirrors. It’s this term by Dr. Bishop and she talks about the importance of having experiences that give windows into other experiences and peoples’ stories; then also mirrors that reflect your own and affirm your own experiences too. Curriculum’s a big part of it, events are a big part of it, the conversations that we have with people, who we pay attention to, all of that’s part of it. When things go wrong, and things do go wrong, how we react in a way that not only heals and builds community, but feels like it’s an appropriate response to things that happen, is absolutely important.

Expressions: When attending SLOHS as a student, what were some of your favorite spots in SLO to hang out or get coffee or food?

Dickinson:  Does Linnaea’s still exist? 

Expressions: Yes it does! I go there every morning.

Expressions: I was named after that place.

Dickinson:  Were you really?

Expressions: Yeah.

Dickinson:  That is a magical spot in the universe.

Expressions: Yes, I go there most mornings with my girlfriend for coffee and breakfast.

Expressions: What is your favorite film? This can be in an entertainment sense or in an artistic sense.

Dickinson: My favorite movie that I just watched recently was “Soul.” I watched that with my kids; that was really fun. And, this is not going to make me seem impressive or anything, but it’s “Back to the Future.” I just love the movie “Back to the Future.”

Expressions: Oh my gosh, there’s this campaign poster on campus for one of my friends who’s running for junior class officer, and he photoshopped himself into a movie poster from Back to the Future for his junior class officer poster. You’re probably going to see it when you visit.

Dickinson:  Okay. I love it.

Expressions: What are some rumors that you’ve heard about school, good or bad? If any of these rumors come true, what solutions are some solutions you would have?

Dickinson: I think that in the weeks and months to come I’m going to hear more rumors, but right now I haven’t heard any that are bad. I’ve heard that SLOHS continues to be a really amazing school, and it’s not a rumor, you know what I mean. So, word on the street is that there are a lot of really amazing things happening, and the truth about any place is that it’s not going to be perfect. You work through all of that, it’s part of what it is. But feel free to share any of those things with me, and that helps me.

Expressions: What was your favorite class in high school?

Dickinson:  So I have a few. A couple of my favorite teachers were Mr. Lopez, who was a science teacher. I had three of his classes and he was just such an amazing positive force for me. Mr. Monteharno was my Spanish teacher multiple times and he was our youth and government advisor. We just had a really, really strong connection. Of course I loved my English teachers. I had Ms. Orath, Mr. Bender, Ms. Avery, and Mr. Jones. Those were my four and they were just stars for me and my life.

Expressions: Are you bringing any aspects of your vision of the school you’re principal at right now to SLOHS?

Dickinson: Yeah, I’m sure I will. When I think about all of my experiences throughout my life, they very much influenced who I am. I feel lucky that as a teacher I got to teach in this little farming town in California, I got to teach in Durham, North Carolina, and I got to teach in Oregon. Then I got my experiences as principal and assistant principal in the Portland area. And all those gave more texture to my way of interacting with people, doing things, and doing what I think is possible. Portland is a really amazing place where there isn’t much sunshine, so we’ve had to create our own sunshine here. There’s a lot required everyday to bring joy and creativity to life, so I’m surrounded by a lot of really amazing students, educators, friends, and family. All of that will definitely inform what I bring with me, then I’ll get to be influenced by everything that is the different aspects and diverse community at SLOHS.

Expressions: Any opinions on Phoebe Bridgers? This is just something that we need to know.

Dickinson: Oh my. This is like the worst question for me because I don’t even know what we’re talking about right now.

Expressions: She was up for a Grammy I think this last time. She’s an emo sort of artist.

Dickinson:  Okay. So how about let me get back to you on that one. I’ll do research and I’ll let you know what I think.

Expressions: She’s okay.

Expressions: I don’t know who she is either. It’s fine.

Expressions: What’s your favorite album of all time?

Dickinson:  I think I would say Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan.

Expressions: Very good choice.

Expressions: Based on the fact that many people harbor resentments from high school and you’re returning to your high school, do you hope to exact any retribution on SLOHS? Example, you have new found power over your enemies, how will you use it? 

Dickinson: I love the question, it’s hilarious. I don’t harbor any resentments from high school, or have any enemies from high school. So I don’t have an exciting answer for that. I think one of the things that I’ve enjoyed as I’ve lived more is that I have more of a sense of why high schools are problematic places, and I am embarrassed to say that I was not fully aware of that in high school. I think that awareness is helpful as a principal, not only of what can be great and fun and positive, but also what is often problematic and even completely wrong in our school system. 

Expressions: Do you hope to see Measure D completed within your tenure or your lifetime?

Dickinson: How long has it been going? Eight years or something already.

Expressions: Yeah, I don’t know how many years it’s been going but it’s been ridiculously long.

Dickinson:  Yes I do.

Expressions: The following measure passed in 2014, I looked it up.

Dickinson:  That’s a long time.

Expressions: Yeah.

Dickinson:  How does everything look? I’m so excited to be there next week.

Expressions: Well we finally have a pool, and the field’s torn out.

Expressions: I started here in 1999 and it’s the best the school’s ever looked.

Expressions: Yeah the front office is just great, and then we got the small gym over here.

Dickinson:  I was there over winter break just playing on the field, and the pool does look gorgeous. I mean that’s amazing. A friend just sent me a picture over the weekend of the field, yeah all torn up with the bulldozers and everything else.

Expressions: I remember walking on the campus and just thinking what did they do? Like I had no idea.

Expressions: And then, have you been a principal or had experience in helping around schools before?

Dickinson: Yeah so I’ve been the principal of Lake Oswego High School for the last five years. I was assistant principal before that.

Expressions: How would you describe that high school?

Dickinson: It’s an awesome high school. Very much at the center of the school is this culture of learning where people are really engaged. There is a sense of not just doing all this for grades and getting ahead, but it’s really a sense of curiosity, creativity, and leadership from students and staff. In some ways, there are going to be some similarities between Lake Oswego High School and SLOHS. With having a hyper-forming vibrant school population, that also needs to really work to make sure that each and every student is fully included, supported, valued, loved, and at the core of what we’re doing. That’s been a lot of my work, and I’m doing that in some really good ways, I hope. But, it’s a really great school in academics, athletics, the arts, and a lot of activities and ways for students to lead.

Expressions: How recognizable is San Luis Obispo after the gentrification that has happened since you’ve left?

Dickinson: Yeah so it definitely does look different. When I left, the wine industry wasn’t around, downtown looked different, and there were whole neighborhoods that didn’t exist when I was there. I have gone back to visit throughout so it’s not like I’ll be seeing it totally new, and I’ve been watching the evolution overtime. There are a lot of parts that are the same, but the house that I grew up in looks entirely different. I drove by and then had to stop, go in reverse and go back to see that house that I lived in for 18 years. It’s interesting how those changes do happen.

Expressions: Have you had any involvement with the comedy sketch Portlandia, featuring Fred Armisen? Do you know of Fred Armisen? Are you friends with him?

Dickinson: I don’t know him and I’m not friends with him. A lot of Portlandia is so hilarious but a lot of it doesn’t even feel exaggerated.

Expressions: What about Carrie Brownstein?

Dickinson:  Again I’m going to let you guys know, yeah sorry, I’m not friends with them.

Expressions: Okay and then, alright Nairne you wanna ask yours?

Expressions: Go for it.

Expressions: How’s the move back to overpriced SLO going to affect you financially and are you concerned about it?

Dickinson: That’s funny. Maybe I’m in denial right now, and I’m just living the excitement of coming back. I’m someone who appreciates simple things. One of my favorite writers is Henry David Thoreu and to quote Hamlet, “O God, I could be bounded in a nut shell and count myself a king of infinite space.” I’ll leave out the rest of the quote, but he says the problem is the bad dreams. It’s okay, it’ll be good and we’ll make it work. Fortunately, the real estate market is booming up here too, so I think it’s actually all going to work out fine.

Expressions: Great, and I think that’s all the written questions that we have. Do you guys have anything else?

Expressions: Yeah, I have one. Has anyone ever told you that your voice sounds like Jimmy Fallon?

Dickinson: No, but I like that.

Expressions: You just sound like Jimmy Fallon to me.

Dickinson: That’s funny.

Expressions: Would you mind talking a little bit about you and your family? They don’t have any questions about you personally, so I take it your family and you are moving down here. Could you publicly tell us a little bit about yourself from that?

Dickinson: They’ll be five of us and a really big dog coming down. Catherine is the person who married me and she is totally amazing. We met in high school, actually, and we didn’t date the whole time or anything, but we ended up together after college.

Expressions: How many years have you guys been married?

Dickinson: 17 years. She is amazing, funny, smart, creative, and a really really good person. We have three kids. Our kids are going to be seventh grade, fifth grade, and first grade, and their names are Hollis, Pippa, and Bea. They’re super cool young people.

Expressions: What elementary school are you planning on enrolling them in? I’m just curious.

Dickinson:  I don’t know, do you have any tips?

Expressions: Hawthorne Elementary School. Yeah Hawthorne Elementary School, or Pacheco if you want a duel version.

Expressions: Pacheco!

Expressions: The elementary schools are pretty competitive down here.

Expressions: Yeah it is, I don’t know. My mom was the librarian here for about 35 ish years, 37 I think. Ms. Krieger and Hawthorne are just very close to my heart. So, just a tip.

Dickinson: That’s great. I think anything will work and we’re open to it all. One nice thing is Laguna and that’ll be great, and SLOHS, that’ll be great. In the town where I am currently, there are two high schools and there’s a lot of competition and comparison between them. I know mission exists, of course, but like this idea of just one large high school.

Expressions: I think my friends go to the other high school.

Dickinson: They go to Lakeridge?

Expressions: I think. I’m not sure which one they go to.

Dickinson: That’s a great school too.

Expressions: Alright, we got anything else?

Dickinson: Taryn might have a question.

Expressions: Hopefully we’re returning next year, hopefully I’m putting that there. What is your stance on mask wearing and all that stuff? I know the district influences a lot of it but what’s your opinion on it?

Dickinson: One of the really interesting parts of the experience that we’ve had this last year is realizing how much our actions affect everyone around us and how interconnected we are. I’ve been really careful with mask wearing and distancing and everything else. My wife is also a public health person and there’s a lot of research that backs up the choices that we’ve made and about all those things. We’ve been very thoughtful and careful about it, and at the same time I’m excited for us to get through this experience that we’ve been in and get back close to each other again and mask off. I’m craving that, but currently that’s something that’s not quite there yet, for me. 

Expressions: My follow up question is, I know the board is in charge of whether or not vaccines are added to the required vaccination list or not, but what decision on vaccines do you hope that the district is going to make, now that next week Phzier eligibility is going to open up to 12 and older?

Dickinson: I would have to do a little bit more research on that. The little bit I know is that a lot of them, I think the testing on vaccines is for people who are a little bit older, compared to 12 and up, so I would just need to learn a little bit more about aht. I do know a lot of colleges are thinking about adding the Covid vaccine to their list of vaccines, and I dont think a lot of K-12 schools are. 

Expressions: Yeah. Anything else? Oh no I didn’t. See I had the longest list which is why I skipped over myself. And then, why did you choose to come back to SLOHS, rather than I guess stay or like find another school?

Dickinson: There are so many schools, that’s true. There are a lot of reasons, but I think one of them is that both Catherine and I really loved our experience growing up in San Luis Obispo. It’s absolutely a beautiful place and there are a lot of really great things going on in the community.  So that’s part of it. It’s just like a place to love. It’s also a school that I just feel a lot of gratitude for, which is kind of a weird thing to- but that’s a powerful emotion, to feel thanks for something, and so that encourages this desire to want to give back to that experience, so I think that’s part of it. Catherine really misses the sun, and I’m fine without the sun being around but everytime we come back home to visit and experience that sun, when we go away Catherine gets teary, and then it’s hard to leave it. And then the idea of being able to have the sun back in our lives is also appealing. And then we have family in San Luis Obispo and the Central Coast area and Cayucos, right next to you Scott, that matters a lot in life is family too, so it just seems like a really great opportunity on multiple levels and it seems sort of magical that it’s happening. But that’s cool to have a little magic in our lives, and so this feels like a magical moment that I’m stepping into and I’m really just going to do my best to just make it positive for everyone. And being a principal is not an easy job, at all, it’s signing up to work eighty hour weeks and just be fully immersed in all these things, but it’s joyful work for me and it’s more than work, it doesn’t even feel like work, so I’m excited about it.

Expressions: Are there any new clubs or programs that you’d like to bring to SLOHS, or any ideas that you have that you’d wanna bring?

Dickinson: I need to do a little bit more research to know all the current clubs that do exist. Do you get to create new clubs as you go each year as long as you get an advisor and everything else? Let me do a little bit more research before I come up with some ideas, but that’s a big part of this culture of this school is having  those experiences, and often it leads to relevant experiences and so much of education is about finding those relevant moments, and it’s a really great way to do that and have leadership opportunities for students.

Expressions: From the programs that you know about, what programs are you most excited about or what departments are you excited to see their work?

Dickinson: I mean one thing that SLOHS has, that so many schools don’t have and are envious of, are really strong CTE programs, and it’s hard to create that. It’s hard to create the facilities and to have teachers who have enough knowledge to teach those courses, and partnerships with industry and universities and all those things. All those things take a lot of time, it takes years and years and years of work. And all of that is in place at SLOHS, and that’s awesome. I mean that’s something to celebrate and that’s part of the much broader SLOHS experience, but that is really something that most schools don’t have.

Expressions: This is just I guess context for the article that I’m writing, but what is your involvement with Measure D?

Dickinson: I’m about to get way more involved.

Expressions: Great answer. 

Expressions: I think you’re coming in on a good time.

Expressions: Yeah. Please get it done quicker, like please try to influence them to be quicker.

Expressions: I don’t think high school students have any idea on how construction works. But yeah it’ll be interesting to see it done.

Expressions: I really appreciate your time and we’re going to let you go but Linnaea and Taryn and Celia if you have any other questions you’d like to ask, before Izzy goes home or you have work. So thank you very much for coming by, it was awesome

Dickinson: Yeah, you’re welcome. I loved it and it was a highlight of the day for sure.

Expressions: All right!

Expressions: Audios!

Dickinson: Audios!