UPDATED: New Tartan Principal Chosen

new principal wasn’t always an educator.

Adam Ehrmantraut started his working life as a financial analyst at a college, but something was missing, he said. Soon after beginning a career in the financial world he went back to school to get his teacher’s license, and started working as a substitute teacher in St. Paul.

“My perspective is if you’re going to do something with your life eight to 10 hours per day, you’ve got to make it count,” he said. “It was pretty evident pretty quickly when I started stepping into the St. Paul Schools that I needed to be in education.”

For six years, Ehrmantraut has served as an assistant principal at Minnetonka High School, according to an email message from District 622 Assistant Superintendent Troy Miller.

Before that, he worked as a social studies teacher and hockey coach at Benilde-St. Margaret’s in St. Louis Park, and later served as a dean and interim principal there, Ehrmantraut said.

He grew up in South St. Paul, and he said he’s always envisioned coming back to work in the east metro. Tartan is significantly more diverse than Minnetonka High School, but that was “an attractive part,” of the position, Ehrmantraut said.

“It’s more representative of what the Twin Cities looks like,” he said. “I fully recognize that this is a different environment, different community.”

District officials are excited to have Ehrmantraut on board, according to Miller.

“The first thing you notice about Adam is his outstanding relationships he builds with staff, students and families,” Miller said. “He is friendly, intelligent, personable and courageous. He is an instructional leader that has high expectations for himself and others.”

Current Tartan High School Principal John Bezek was selected in March for a job as assistant superintendent with the Shakopee School District, and he'll be leaving after the end of the school year.