October 18, 2024 -- When Columbus Alternative High School (CAHS) principal Dr. Darryl Sanders was a child, he didn’t want to be a teacher. He saw his mother, an English teacher, constantly grading papers and correcting people’s grammar and wanted no part of it.

“Unbeknownst to me, years later, that would be my passion,” Dr. Sanders said as he prepares to retire this December after 37 years in education.

The West High School graduate spent most of his professional career with Columbus City Schools (CCS). Upon receiving his bachelor’s degree in education from Central State University, Dr. Sanders returned to his roots to teach in several Columbus City Schools’ (CCS) buildings including East High School, Sherwood Middle School, and Independence High School. It wasn’t long before Dr. Sanders reached a new calling in his career path that would lead him back to where it all began: West High School.

At West, Dr. Sanders served as a leadership intern for three months before being promoted to assistant principal.

“It was really interesting for me because many of the teachers that taught me as a student were still there, and now I am the assistant principal,” Dr. Sanders said. “It was definitely a journey.”

After two years of serving as an assistant principal, he moved on to overseeing two of the District’s English as a Second Language (ESL) Welcome Centers. ESL Welcome Centers acclimated new students from foreign countries into their new school environments. He then transitioned to principal at now-closed Southmoor Middle School for four years.

He later served as principal at Eastmoor Academy for four years before moving to district-level roles. He worked as a regional executive director, the senior executive director of school leadership development, and chief academic officer.

With so much diverse experience at different levels, it’s no wonder Area Superintendent Dr. Luther Johnson calls him “a leader of leaders.”

“He is a class act who is willing to assist others and elevates his students and staff by pushing them to their highest potential,” Dr. Johnson said.

It was consistent interaction with students that he missed while working in district offices. He realized through visiting many buildings, he wasn’t building relationships as he had done earlier in his career. 

“What drives my work is being around young people, seeing them thrive, seeing them grow and develop, and then graduating them at the end of the year,” Sanders said.

And so he came to CAHS in 2012, a school that lived up to the standard of excellence his West High School guidance counselor instilled in him when she told him that college attendance was not optional.

“Excellence started in high school for me with a guidance counselor who believed in me when others didn’t,” Dr. Sanders said.

He carried that mindset throughout his career, and it matched well with CAHS. Excellence is the standard, not the exception, at CAHS. The school often boasts a 100% graduation rate. When he arrived, his main goal was building relationships with the seasoned faculty, many who had served more than 20 years. That provided him the opportunity to be a true “instructional leader,” developing teachers and building their learning capacity when teaching the students. 

“Our students thrive because what we teach them here is not just learning material, but it’s learning how to think and learning how to take the information you have and be a change agent in the world,” said Dr. Sanders.

And it’s not just the teachers. Sanders credits his staff as a whole and the support from the community and parents for the students’ success. When he arrived at CAHS, he suggested to the school’s Parent Teacher Association that fundraisers be held for economically disadvantaged seniors. He wanted every student who worked hard to graduate to reap all the rewards of their success. Since becoming principal, no graduating senior has missed prom or senior breakfast for financial reasons.

“That’s an edge that a lot of other schools don’t have, and I don’t take that for granted,” Dr. Sanders said. “I celebrate that, and I’m very appreciative of that strong support.”

Supportive is a word Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Complex Director Dr. Milton Ruffin used to describe Dr. Sanders. Over the years, he and Dr. Sanders have shared practices and strategies as peer administrators to get the best out of their students and staff. Dr. Ruffin also noted Dr. Sanders’ prioritization of his students. It was not uncommon for Dr. Sanders who pause conversations with anyone to tend to students’ needs because “students always come first.”

“He is what a building and district leader should look and sound like,” Dr. Ruffin said. “When you want to see what a successful leader looks like, you can look at Dr. Sanders.”