Interim Principal Mitch Torina met with approximately 20 parents and community members this week to talk about his role temporarily leading Santa Ynez Valley Union High School for at least the next four months after drama enveloped the campus last year.

“This is about students,” Torina said. “It’s about young people who we’re trying to help grow and find a place in the world.”

More than one round of searches for a new principal has occurred since last spring, but the slot remained empty as the new school year approached.

The prior principal, Michael Niehoff, resigned in April.

For the school year’s first semester, Torina will fill the role, serving as the fourth leader at the high school since the 2019-20 year. Thursday was the first day of the 2023-24 school year.

Torina wasn’t shy about noting that instability and the effects on students, staff and parents.

“This has not been a very stable place for administrators,” Torina said. 

Sitting in a chair at the front of the room, Torina tackled other questions centered on the school’s anonymous hotline, anti-drug education, traffic, outside influences, and more. 

Regarding the hotline, Torina said he would research the issue and aim to circulate the information by the end of the week.

Another person suggested reviving the parent advisory council to help stop rumors before they fuel drama.

“It’s super helpful,” one woman said. 

Torina, who praised the high school’s educators, said teachers need to be allowed to teach.

“You have to let the school be the school,” he said,

He added that he intends to hold the coffee-with-a-principal events monthly while leading the school. 

As issues erupted last year, the high school district had a new school board finding out that sitting in the audience at the meeting proved different than sitting at the dais, Mark Hershel, a parent and Los Olivos School District board member, pointed out.

“We need to pull together for the kids,” Herthel said.

Torina has served as an educator for 25 years before retiring in 2018 as assistant superintendent of human resources for the Santa Barbara Unified School District.

He previously served as the assistant superintendent for student services, assistant principal and counselor at SBUSD sites.

More recently, he helped form the Lompoc Teen Center to give at-risk youths a safe place to achieve success. 

Torina isn’t the only member of a new leadership team. The district also named Victoria Martinez and Jasmine Day as vice principals.  

Martinez will be responsible for Refugio High School, counseling and special education, while Day will oversee student services and associated student body activities, according to information included in the agenda packet for Tuesday night’s board meeting. 

Long-time Vice Principal Peter Haws saw his administrative role reduced to part-time to handle athletics and curriculum. He also will teach. 

In spring 2022, the district hired Niehoff, but he left after a tumultuous year at the campus.

His first semester at the high school, Niehoff visited classrooms and touted project-based learning to ready students for 21st century careers.

Then the second semester began. A student discipline issue generated headlines. A “No Place for Hate” program including speed bumps and crosswalks painted as rainbows sparked complaints, early removal and more controversy. 

“I would hope the community would rally around the school and try to work together because this should be a really spectacular place,” Niehoff said in May. 

Weeks after Niehoff’s resignation, the Fresno Unified School District board took action in closed session to appoint him as executive director of the alternative education/instructional division.

He will be part of a new campus opening in fall 2024 to bring multiple alternative education programs.

“I get the fun part of being able to put the programs together and getting students to access the programs,” he said. 

“It’s a really fortunate project,” he added. “It really fits my skillset and my interests.”

Niehoff replaced Michele Borges, who led the school for two years before the district declined to renew her contract.

In 2020, the district did not renew the contract of Mark Swanitz, a graduate of the high school who served 10 years as principal.