City Honors Retired Middle School Principal

Ron Kaiser, who retired as principal of at the end of last school year, was honored with a proclamation from the City of Agoura Hills on Wednesday evening. During his 21-year tenure, Kaiser led the school to numerous awards and national recognition for achievements in arts and academics.

“You’ve invested a lot of your life in that school and have had some wonderful moments there, and we are truly, truly sorry to see you go,” said Mayor Harry Schwarz, as he presented Kaiser with the honor. “On behalf of the city and myself, I want to present you with this proclamation, which basically honors your service to the community, to Lindero Canyon, to all the students, who probably have turned out a little better because you were there to help guide them, and the teachers as well.”

“Thank you Mr. Mayor,“ Kaiser replied upon receiving the honor. “This is a wonderful honor. It certainly is bittersweet. Twenty-one years seems a very, very long time, and when you’re doing it, it goes by too quick almost.

Kaiser got his start in the district in 1976 as an English teacher, a position to which he said he looks back with fond memories. He then took the position of assistant principal at A.E. Wright Middle School, which was then under the now-district superintendent, Donald Zimring, who was the principal there at the time.

Zimring recalls that Kaiser was an outstanding English teacher, “very well-read, a great writer and a talented film critic,” he said. “His knowledge of movies is encyclopedic.”

Zimring also commended him on his sense of humor, wry wit and insightfulness.

When Kaiser assumed leadership at Lindero Canyon Middle School, he transferred this same love of the arts to the entire school, said Zimring.

He created an atmosphere “that supported not only achievements, but the arts simultaneously,” said Zimring said. “The school has won award after award after award.”

Lindero has been recognized nationally as a Blue Ribbon School, and it has received the California Distinguished School Award and the Bravo Award from the Music Center of the County of Los Angeles.

City Councilmember Dan Kuperberg, who has worked with Kaiser for many years on collaborative efforts between the city and Lindero Canyon, commended Kaiser on his never-ending support for the students and their performing arts programs. "He’s always there encouraging them,” Kuperberg said. “I’ve never been to a concert where he wasn’t there.”

To Kaiser, keeping that near-perfect attendance record at shows was important, he said. In the 14 years that the middle-schoolers have put on their annual musical, he doesn’t think he ever missed a performance. “That’s a lot of performances to watch, but I’ve loved every single one of them,” he said.

With schools across the nation clamping down on their budgets, some have diminished their support for the arts. But to Kaiser, the arts are an essential part of academic life. “I think it connects children with their own humanity,” he said. “It allows them to be creative. When kids are connected with the arts in the school, the school becomes a center of life for them. They do better academically when they’re part of a community.”

That art community extended to the faculty as well, and Kaiser attributed the success of the school to the teachers who encouraged the children to be creative. “I’ve been very fortunate to have extraordinarily talented arts teachers and teachers who were wiling to integrate the arts into their curriculum,” he said.

Kaiser is currently working part-time as a consultant for the district until the end of the year. But apart from that, he’s not quite sure what his retirement will look like, though he hinted that he might start a movie blog.

, who once worked under Kaiser as his assistant principal, has taken over leadership of the school.