Turning The Page: Dr. Brandon Gridiron Starts His Journey at Redwood High School

Redwood High School welcomes new principal Dr. Brandon Gridiron to the Ranger campus. Dr. Gridiron shares where he has been, and where he plans to head as Redwood’s new principal.

By Karli Branson

Gridiron started his district career at the Middle School level. He began as an Administrator at La Joya Middle School, and remained in his position for about 7 years. He says, “When I became an Administrator I really wanted to connect with kids, I am all about connecting with our youth.”

For the last 6 years, Gridiron has been the Administrator of Equity and Student Services at the District Office. He says that in his Student Services position he felt disconnected from the school sites. “I was more so overseeing the policies and the things that were happening across the district.”

Gridiron adds his appreciation for this opportunity to come back to a school and be with students. He says, “When the opportunity presented itself it was a no brainer. I really missed being around kids and it has been exciting.”

Gridiron emphasizes that the transition to Redwood’s campus was not particularly difficult for him. 

 He says, “It wasn’t difficult at all. The thing that I was the most worried about was the relationships. That is huge for me. Building relationships with the staff and students at a school is super important and it starts at the beginning.”

He adds, “It has been great. It has been the best transition that I could imagine. The students have been welcoming, the staff have been welcoming. It has made it super easy and super exciting and enjoyable.”

Gridiron is thrilled as he looks forward to his time at Redwood. “I am excited to just continue the tradition of excellence that has been established here. Everyone here is about the traditions and the allure of Redwood.”

He continues, “As an outside person, even though I worked for the District, I had never experienced that. What I can say from having only been here for a week officially, is that you can feel it. It is instant.”

Gridiron notes the involvement of people surrounding Redwood’s campus. “The people here, the students, the staff, the families, are committed to this school and that is awesome,” he says.

As far as change, he does not have any specific plans, but hopes to look at what staff and students see needs to be improved, and he wants to work towards that.

Gridiron intends to stick with Redwood as long as he can. He says, “Although I was slated to be the interim for the remainder of the year, my commitment is to Redwood. My children at some point will come here, so it would be pretty cool to be here when they are here.”

“I was writing an email to the student body a few weeks ago just letting them know that I was going to be on campus, and I had written Interim Principal for the remainder of the year, but I deleted that. I felt that it was important, in order for me to build relationships with the students and staff, to be committed.”

“How can you build relationships with someone that is going to be gone, and so my commitment is to be here and to support these students and staff as long as they want me here,” says Gridiron.

Kirk Shrum, VUSD Superintendent, voices his thoughts towards Redwood’s new hire. He says, “We wanted to ensure that Redwood was in great hands during this transition. Dr. Gridiron has a great wealth of experiences from both district and school level work.”

“He has a heart for student success and cares deeply about the student experience. I hope that he will continue and build upon the academic successes at Redwood and also focus on how to involve all students in campus activities,” says Shrum.

Shrum adds how Gridiron’s previous experience at the district can help enhance his capabilities as Principal of Redwood. “When you work at the district, you are able to see many things across different campuses and are able to bring a different perspective and ideas to the school. You also have a different lens as a leader and know how things work that will benefit the school.”

ASB Inter-Club Commissioner, Marissa Mendoza, ‘24, has had a few discussions with Dr. Gridiron already, and shares her high hopes for the year.

 She says, “Talking with Dr. Gridiron was super easy. He was easy to communicate with and was very eager to be updated on things that are coming up.”

Mendoza continues, “As soon as we first met him, ASB execs knew that we could go to him with anything we needed. He was super willing to work with some of the crazy ideas we have. He is on our side as far as giving us all of the help we need in order to execute these ideas and work with him to make this year amazing.”

Since previously working at the district, Gridiron has worked with staff at Redwood High School before. These staff members are excited to officially welcome Dr.Gridiron to Redwood’s campus.

Hailey Aston, RHS ASB Advisor, says, “I already knew kind of who he was and I was hopeful that when he got here that it would go well so I was excited for that. When he got here I saw him start right away and jump in with both feet which was really nice to see.”

Aston adds that in a meeting to discuss plans for Cowhide, Gridiron was willing to learn and be a part of the Redwood culture. She says, “We are off to a really great start.”

She is happy to continue this relationship between Gridiron and ASB to provide for great school years to come. She says, “Even when he was at the district office he was always really supportive of our students and the things that they want to do.”

“Within the last week he has been more than willing to go above and beyond to help make sure our campus is ready. I am really hopeful for the rest of the year.”

Alexa Barba-Tepper, RHS Assistant Principal, also notes her prior working relationship with Gridiron. She says, “We are very fortunate. I have known Brandon for years. He has continued to be my friend even when he moved up to the district office.”

“It was hard to hear that we were losing our principal, but we heard that Gridiron was coming and it was cool. We know him, we know how he operates, so the learning curve of learning a whole new personality wasn’t an issue.”

Barba-Tepper says, “There is nothing like being a Ranger” and expresses that she even told Gridiron, “I am so excited for you, you are going to have so much fun.” She adds, “I knew that it was going to be a blessing for him and a blessing for us.”

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