Archive: Around Town

When Lansing High School opens its doors in September a new principal will be at the helm.  After interviewing 73 applicants the Lansing Board Of Education approved the appointment of Eric Hartz to fill the seat vacated by Michelle Brantner, who left this summer to become the Moravia Superintendent of Schools.  Most recently he was principal at Groton High School.

"It was really an honor to even get an interview in the Lansing School District as a principal," Hartz says.  "I do realize how this district is very valued for a lot of the traditions it has.  It has an incredible academic base from K-12.  Just take a look at graduation rates and where students are going to school.  To even be able to be considered as a candidate was an honor."

Hartz's first day at Lansing will be August 3rd, but he has already been on the campus talking to people, meeting with administrators, and rearranging the furniture in his office, even having it painted with stipes of the school colors, blue and gold.

"People will find that I have a very open door policy," he says.  "If you look at my office when you walk in there's no desk in between you and me.  There are no blockages.  You need to come in and have a conversation with me.  I might be able to help with some things.  Sometimes it might be just to listen and other times you might need help and maybe we can work on it.  I hope people see that."

Hartz says that his first priority is going to be to learn everybody's names, something that doesn't come naturally to him.  And he is very concerned that the senior class doesn't feel lost in the shuffle with their old principal leaving and a new one coming in.

"I want to make sure the seniors have a good year this year," he says.  "I don't want them to feel 'he doesn't care' or 'we're just a class he wants to get out of here.  I'm hoping they'll see that I care about them."


Hartz is an Ithaca native who has lived in Lansing for 18 years.  As an Ithaca High School student Lansing Middle School Principal Jamie Thomas, then a young science teacher in Ithaca, coached him in football.  He earned his Bachelor of Science and Education from Cortland State in 1989, playing football there all four years.  He continued at Cortland to earn a Masters in Physical Education in 1993.

He began teaching at the Special Children's Center (now the Racker Center) where he worked with handicapped children ages two to five and devised a physical education program for them.

"As a young guy coming out it was really nice to be able to devise a phys ed program for handicapped and students with special needs and also there were day care students involved," he says.  "That was really intriguing to me and a great challenge.  Then I went into the public school system after that."

He taught Phys Ed at South Seneca for three years, and then at Dryden for another three years.  He taught for a year in Ithaca and then returned to Dryden in 2001.  At that point Principal Dick During suggested he think about getting a Certificate of Administrative Studies (CAS).  He earned the certificate, which qualifies him as a principal or superintendent, from Cortland State in 2004.

That year he found himself back at South Seneca as an assistant principal.  A year later he was hired as Groton High School Principal, and he finishes there this week.

"I was really fortunate to get the Groton job," Hartz says.  "I was there for just over four years.  It's been a great run."

He and his wife Deb moved to Lansing when their daughter was born.  They considered Trumansburg, Dryden, and Lansing, but settled here in part because of the quality of the schools.   We did some research on schools and we thought that Lansing was the place we wanted our child to go to.

"My older brother was living in Lansing," he says.  "We did some research on schools and we thought that Lansing was the place we wanted our child to go to.  It worked out really well.  She just graduated this year."

Over the years Hartz have participated in numerous athletic programs with the town Recreation Department.  He coached softball and soccer here while also coaching football in the schools he taught in.  Hartz says he wanted a teaching job here for a long time, but his daughter had concerns about her dad teaching in her school.  Now that she's graduated the coast is clear.


"I wanted to get into this district for years," he says.  "I was a physical education teacher for 14 years, and this was a place where I truly wanted to be.  It worked out a little later in life -- it all kind of came together.  I guess everything's meant to be for a reason.  It worked out very well with Cassie."

Hartz is looking forward to being involved in the whole range of school life.  He is not above getting involved in school fundraisers or taking a cameo role (not a singing role, he insists) in the school musical.  He says he's not a desk person, so he'll be spending a lot of time in the halls, in classrooms, or on bus duty.

He says he's heard some people express concern that a principal coming from a physical education background might favor sports over academics or other pursuits.  But Hartz shows an enthusiasm for all aspects of education.

"One of the things I'm hoping I can continue and bring more of are rich traditions, the academic support," he says.  "I truly love the extracurricular activities -- the arts, the music, and the sports, too.  It's funny.  I've been a sports guy my whole life, but in my last four years as a principal in Groton I've taken a love to the arts and music.  Part of that is I can't do it!  But when I can watch other people, and students especially, with such a passion and such an ability to do that it really intrigues me, and I love it.

"It's been nice.  To be a principal you have to look at everything, the whole feast of education.  I'm excited about that.  It's also allowed me to get into the classrooms of the core subjects.  When you're in your own discipline teaching you don't get that.  you hear about things and you see science fairs, and you see art shows, but you don't see the real making of it.  Now I love being able to go in to the sciences and other places.  There is nothing better than coming into a lab and watching what's going on in a physics or chemistry lab."

He says he will deal with discipline for students and faculty alike on a case by case basis.  "You've got to take those as they come," he says.  "I think the teachers are professionals.  They know that.  You look at the professional standard, where you're at and where you want to be.  One of the things that we have here is an extremely good school.  I want to create a great school.  I think there are a lot of faculty members that want to jump on, too, and build that."

Hartz is excited that Lansing Superintendent Stephen Grimm has assembled a relatively young team of administrators now, and stresses that he is here for the long haul.  He says he is invested in the community, and while he doesn't rule out a superintendency later in his career, right now he is focussed on being a high school principal.  He notes that he is only the third principal in 27 years and he wants to continue to bring that kind of stability to Lansing High School.

"It is a young team," he says.  "It's very exciting.  With that you can build a lot of energy and a lot of momentum can happen.  I hope that feeds into the teachers and the community as well.  We are young and we're here to do things, and we want to support and be a part of that.  My feeling is that Dr. Grimm is here to stay, too.  I know there's a rich team here and there is a lot of knowledge here.  I know from the few times I've met with Steve that he brings a lot of wealth to the table as well."

Next Monday Hartz will officially begin working with faculty and staff.  That gives him just over a month to get his bearings before the doors open for the first day of school on September 9th.

"There is a lot of energy here and I know the teachers here are phenomenal teachers, all of them," he says.  "I'm excited to incorporate that and be a leader with them.  It's not them working for me.  It's us working together, and that's how we'll build a great school."

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