“Find a job that pays the bills, and then learn to love it,” is a philosophy former Dirty Jobs television host Mike Rowe has made somewhat famous. And it’s one that newly hired Sheridan Middle School Principal Justin Rasnick has come to adopt as his own.
“Originally, I did not want to get into education,” Rasnick said. “[After I did my internship], I was struggling to figure out what I was going to do.
“My buddy was working a temp job at Methodist Behavioral Hospital [in Maumelle], and he told me they were hiring teachers over there. I needed a job because I was tired of scraping by doing odds and ends.”
Rasnick said he applied for a position and administrators at the hospital, which is part of the Pulaski County Special School District, told him they would hire him, but he had to go back to school and get his special-education license. He said once he started working there, he fell in love with teaching.
“So I wouldn’t recommend [following that philosophy] to everybody,” Rasnick said, “but it worked out well for me.”
Rasnick will replace former middle school principal Alisa Gray, who was promoted to the director of federal programs and curriculum for the school district. His first day at Sheridan was April 1. He said he was happy to start early, help with the transition and be a better leader.
“It is a big responsibility,” Rasnick said. “Obviously, I’m learning the processes and procedures that are in place and learning how to be a leader.
“Especially, as a building leader, you want to be a good leader and make sure you aren’t going to reinvent the wheel and frustrate folks.”
He said he has spent the past couple of months watching what people are doing and honoring the work they are doing.
“Part of me wants to see everything that is going on in the school,” Rasnick said. “I want to be a part of everything so I can understand how it works and functions and see how it can be used differently.
“I have to get in that program-evaluation mindset and see if it is doing what it is supposed to be doing.”
He said he also has daily conversations with the faculty at Sheridan in hopes of learning their personalities and to “have a feel of who they are as people.”
“Because I think there is a lot in understanding personalities in how to approach people,” Rasnick said. “If one of my teachers is wearing a fishing shirt, I want them to tell me about it and where they go. I’m trying to get those sides of them, asking good questions and getting to know everybody as quickly as possible.
“I want to know who they are, but I also want to know them and have a relationship with them. I just believe if you have a good relationship, you can deal with conflict a lot better.”
Jerrod Williams, superintendent of the Sheridan School District, said he is excited to have Rasnick as the new Sheridan Middle School principal.
“He is a personable, reflective person of high character who is already developing a great rapport with the staff and students at the junior high,” Williams said in a statement. “In his previous roles, Mr. Rasnick has proven to be an effective instructional leader and has demonstrated the characteristics needed in order to create a school culture of continuous improvement in teaching and learning.”
For the past two years, Rasnick has served as an assistant principal and administrator for the secondary level at the Arkansas School for the Blind. He said he focused more on the high school level, while the principal focused more on the elementary side because one building hosts Pre-K through 12.
“There are a lot of blurred roles that touch on a lot of different areas, but the high school was my primary function,” Rasnick said. “I just did a little bit of everything, and sometimes a lot of everything.”
Prior to serving as an administrator for the Arkansas School for the Blind, Rasnick was a social-studies and
special-education teacher for two years, beginning in 2012.
Rasnick said he grew up in a military family before his dad finished up at Camp Robinson in North Little Rock. Rasnick started attending the Conway School District in the eighth grade and graduated from high School in 2001. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway in 2006. He earned a master’s degree in education administration from UCA in 2009 and a second master’s degree from UCA in 2016. He will graduate again from UCA in August with a specialist degree.
“I’ve got a lot of family history from Conway,” Rasnick said. “My folks met there and got married there. My grandmother went to school at [UCA], back when it was called Arkansas State Teachers College. But my dad played football at Boonville, and we still have a lot of family in the Magazine area.”
Brent Hendrickson, who has known Rasnick for more than a decade, said Rasnick is a “solution-seeker and is always looking to try to make things better.”
“He worked for me at Apex Medical in Conway, which I ran for 13 years,” Hendrickson said. “He is a hard worker, a great listener and is always looking to get to know people. He is a great friend and very loyal. He loves to help people do projects.
“He is very easy to get along with and is efficient in everything he does. He is always looking for the best way to do something.”
Hendrickson said that a few years ago, he was doing ductwork at his house. Rasnick came over at 1 p.m. that afternoon to help him and didn’t leave till 5 the next morning. Hendrickson said Rasnick never complained and never quit.
“I had another friend who came over and stepped through the ceiling, so Justin came back the next day and helped patch up my ceiling,” Hendrickson said. “He worked that whole time. He is a very loyal, great friend — you want him on your team.”
Hendrickson said Rasnick is excited about the opportunity at Sheridan.
“I think he will do great,” Hendrickson said. “He is going to do great at whatever he does. He loves people. He loves the professionalism of the school district. He is so excited to be there. If he is passionate about something, nothing is going to stop him from doing an excellent job.
“It will be a better environment for everybody.”
Rasnick said he fell in love with Sheridan after visiting the area to deer hunt with a friend.
“I fell in love with the town, and when the opportunity presented itself to come down, I jumped at it,” he said. “It is a community that I would actually enjoy and trust my kids growing up in.
“I would trust my child to go to any school and be in any teacher’s room. You want to work for folks like that, and that’s my honest answer.”
Rasnick and his wife, Alyssa, have been married since 2012 and live in Maumelle. They have two daughters: Avery Lynn Rasnick, 4, and Mallory Joan Rasnick, 1. Alyssa works as a special-education teacher for the Arkansas School for the Blind.
“I love the people here,” Rasnick said. “The people in the Sheridan School District are extremely professional and passionate about what they do, and you usually don’t get that in the world.
“If you are super professional, you tend to forget the human side of life. If you are super personal, you lose the professional, and lose focus of what is important. I find that balance very rare and exciting.”
Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.