Former WAHS Principal Ryan Cumback takes on new role with CCSD
by Jenny Peterson | News Editor
Longtime educator and West Ashley High School (WAHS) Principal Ryan Cumback is taking an administrative role the next school year and said leaving the school he’s served for the past 15 years (five years as a teacher, five years as assistant principal and five years as a principal) is bittersweet.
The good news is that he won’t be going far: he’s taking the role as Executive Director of High Schools with the Charleston County School District overseeing and supporting area high schools, including WAHS. He said in his 18 total years of experience in education, he’s never been more confident in the school’s staff and direction.
Cumback, 42, brought fresh energy to the high school. Under his leadership, enrollment has increased by more than 400 students—and more than 20 additional teachers—at the public high school. Cumback said he personally hired 75 percent of the staff at the school. Wildcats sports teams won four championships over the past year, including track and field and tennis. The West Ashley High School girls’ soccer team made huge strides.
Cumback guided the school through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and formed partnerships with local colleges, including the College of Charleston and Trident Technical College to offer students dual enrollment classes on the college campuses. Cumback also worked to expand AP class options. This year, Julia Royall, a French teacher, was recognized as a Top 5 Teacher of the Year Finalist in Charleston County.
“We put a huge focus on campus safety, which includes discipline and making sure students knew what the expectations were that they were here to learn,” Cumback said. “The guiding light for us was that we could have a truly comprehensive neighborhood school that the community could be proud of.”
The community and school pride is clear in the families Cumback sees regularly in the grocery store who stop to chat.
“If I go to Home Depot or, or Lowe’s on the weekend, there’s a zero percent chance of being able to walk through there without seeing a family, which is great,” he said. “I love it and genuinely feel like the students, the parents and the staff are very appreciative of what’s taken place here.”
Interviews for candidates for the new principal position will be finalized in July following a recommendation from a panel that includes parents, community members, school board members and other principals in the school district. Cumback said he’s ready to support principals in the district, tackling issues all high schools face like smartphone use, attendance and vaping.
“One of the things that all schools are struggling with is finding different ways to engage the students when there are so many other tools out there that are very engaging for them, whether it’s social media or their phones. It is 100 hundred percent possible. You have to make every single one of your daily lessons for 180 straight days be super engaging, where the kids don’t even have the desire to reach for that phone,” Cumback said. “It goes back to hiring the right teachers and the right staff.”
During the summer, West Ashley High School will host the Charleston Educator Symposium with around 800 teachers, administrators, district staff and vendors on site over three days. Then, it’s back to planning for the upcoming school year.
Cumback said he’s excited to get started in the new role and notes that the right principal can be transformative for a growing public high school like West Ashley.
“The impact that this position can have on the students and the staff on a day-to-day basis is obviously very high, but also it impacts the whole West Ashley community. I liked that pressure. I liked the challenge of taking something that had an enormous amount of potential and finding ways to showcase it,” Cumback said. “And I’ll still be at the Home Depot and the Lowe’s talking to families and I’ll still be at the games.”
