New YHS Principal puts Kids First

• Michael Hannum recently joined YISD as the high school principal. STAFF PHOTO

When he was a student growing up in Rockport, the new principal of Yorktown High School hated school.

Only through his art teacher sneaking his work into a scholarship contest did Michael Hannum find himself in college.

“I went to sort of please her,” Hannum said. “And it was totally different than high school. They treated you like an adult.”

Hannum was most impressed by the ideas discussed by an English professor and changed his major from art to English. “It lit up my brain more than art at that time,” he said.

After he graduated with a teaching certificate, Hannum went back to Rockport ISD to make secondary school more like college. He taught middle school English for 17 of his 23 years there.

“I got rid of desks and had couches,” Hannum said. “And they read what they like.”

He said by the time he became the principal, 90% of his lessons were student driven. Hannum would show students the state knowledge and skill requirements and ask them how they wanted to learn it. From there he would scaffold learning plans.

Along the way, he met and married fellow educator Andria Bade of Yoakum, and they became parents of two children.

“Children are a gift and they deserve our best,” Hannum said. “My job is to help teachers do their best, to provide everything they need and make every effort possible.”

He said some of the challenges as principal are recruiting new teachers and staying competitive.

“The state’s been really good at offering kids everything possible,” he said.

Six years ago Hannum and his family moved to the San Marcos area for work at the Catherine Anne Porter School, followed by the San Marcos Academy. He was the elementary principal while his wife, Andria, taught at the academy.

Last year Andria Hannum lost her battle with cancer.

Because his children’s grandparents live in DeWitt County, Principal Hannum said the Yorktown and Yoakum schools were at the top of his list of districts where he wanted to work.

He said he has loved the parent involvement he’s seen so far in Yorktown, parents advocating for their children. “My role is to partner with them in finding the best for their kids,” he said.

It’s a lot of work academically, he said. He wants to help students do it in a manner that they want to be in school, not necessarily “fun,” but interesting.

“My value is in being able to serve kids and help them make a meaningful present as well as future,” Hannum said.