Highland County Public Schools

MONTEREY — He’s no stranger to Highland County.

Richard Miller, new principal of Highland High School, has taken over the role from previous principal Tim Good, and he’s renting a place close to his brother’s property in Mill Gap as he begins the 2026-27 school year.

He is joined by a special sidekick, too — Bruno Brown, a chocolate brown three-year-old therapy dog who has already made himself at home on the school campus, delighting all the children he meets.

Miller didn’t start his career to become an educator. He wanted to be a coach. But he switched gears dramatically before he got to that point.

He had graduated from Buffalo Gap High School and started taking classes at Blue Ridge Community College. As he tells it, he was on his way home from BRCC one day and thinking he ought to do more with his life. So, he pulled off the road and drove straight into an Air Force recruitment office and signed up for military service.

Miller spent eight years in the Air Force and with security forces. He traveled all over the world — Japan, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Africa — and was stationed as far as Montana for four years. His last assignment was at Andrews Air Force Base, where he worked security for Air Force One while Bill Clinton was president.

The travel enlightened him to other cultures and countries, he said, but also made him realize how special this country was. “We have such good things here … you learn to appreciate what we have here,” he said.

Even while he was a security instructor in the Air Force for military police, “I always wanted to be a coach,” he said.

He has fond memories of his high school coaches, who were all math teachers. As he was getting ready to leave the military, he started taking classes in Washington, D.C., and while he thought he wanted to be a history teacher, he was advised to go into math or science instead.

So, he got his degree from James Madison University, then started teaching at Fort Defiance High School. There, he realized he had to be a teacher first, then a coach. But he enjoyed coaching varsity football and softball, and then did the same at Turner Ashby, where he then decided he’d like to be an athletic director. When the opportunity arose, he moved into administration, first becoming an assistant principal at Rockbridge County High School.

“I saw a lot, being at three different schools over 15 years,” he said.

Then COVID hit, and the AD position at Fort Defiance opened up, so he gave up classroom work and served as AD for six years. “I do it for the kids; that’s why I do anything,” he said.

Miller said besides classes and grades, the memories and friendships students make in school are just as important, whether they’re on sports teams or involved in other extracurricular activities. “You can’t replace that,” he said.

Miller, who has one older son, who lives in Norfolk, said while this is his first role as a principal, he’s not a “ladder climber” looking forward to stepping up in administrative work.

“I want to do the best possible job” in any role, he said. “Things work out the way they’re supposed to.”

Miller has been spending time in Highland County for years, so he was naturally interested in taking on the job here when it came open. “Everybody thinks I knew Dr. Nycum (superintendent) before, but I really didn’t,” he said. “I knew of him, but I didn’t really know him.”

Having enjoyed Highland, he said, “I’m familiar with this area and I like the smallness of it.”

Miller and Nycum have had several conversations now, and Miller said he believes they share the same philosophy when it comes to education. “He’s a student-driven leader, like me, and we’re both very competitive, driven leaders,” Miller said. “We want the kids to be the best they can be.”

Asked about existing challenges at the schools, Miller said he considers himself a “fixer” — someone who can identify problems and come up with solutions.

“All schools took a hit during COVID,” he said, “but we’re bringing back great community schools. It’s beneficial to have community schools and we’re building back to that.”

One of the goals he has at HHS is to get younger and older kids together more often. He suggests older students who can be good role models would be helpful for elementary age kids.

He looks forward to working with Ali Williams, the new elementary school principal, in a shared leadership model. While Miller will be the principal of record, he will work closely with Williams on everything.

“We will have a collaborative team and share our strengths with the teachers, collaborate on evaluating the teachers to help improve their instruction, and share ideas between the two schools and work together,” he said. “All of us in public schools want to see improvement and we all share the same challenges.”

Bringing a “return block” back to the school day is another goal, he said. In the middle of the day, students will get 30 to 40 minutes to use for enrichment, tutoring, or club activities. Miller said that will make the days more consistent for students, and bring more continuity to schedules.

While there is always room to improve academic scores, Miller said part of doing that means setting good goals. “We have to raise the expectations for students,” he said. Using the “return blocks” should help staff in this way, so teachers can focus on earlier intervention for the many students who find it hard to stay after school for enrichment or tutoring.

“Eventually, we’ve got to stop using COVID as an excuse” for poor scores, he said. “I want to stop that now … Kids do rise to the level of expectations.”

“Here, every kid matters,” he added. “Every kid is important.”

Also, Miller, Nycum and Williams have discussed ways to more regularly communicate with parents, and the community at large. That might mean bringing back weekly communications with parents and teachers.

Miller feels confident in the quality of teachers in both schools for this coming school year. “We have some good new hires,” he said, noting that several good teachers were lost during and after COVID. “We’re starting to get those holes filled,” he said.

He was surprised at the AP level offerings in HHS — a couple of them taught in-house and more through virtual learning with the governor’s school. Those help kids get ready for the academic rigor of a college experience, he said.

He also said he is delighted with new school counselor Anna Beers. “She’s doing a good job. We were so fortunate to have Ms. Obaugh, and she (Beers) had some big shoes to fill.”

Miller said he’s also big on offering support for teachers. “I will check in with them every day … you might have trouble finding me because I’m going to be everywhere,” he said. “I love being out in the school environment, in the classrooms, getting feedback. I will be visible, out every day. I will be very present.”

On discipline matters, Miller said he believes in following policies but noted, “People aren’t always going to agree with you … We won’t be perfect but we will do our best.”

Discipline involves getting out in front of issues and not letting them go on too long, he added. “If there’s an issue between two students … they’ll start right here, sitting at this table … A lot of issues stem from social media, but when you put students next to each other, it can be worked out.”

Not everything will please everyone, he said, “but you talk about issues in a reasonable manner.”

Miller believes it’s best for students and parents to follow the chain of command when there are questions or problems, “but parents are free to talk to anyone they want,” he said. “They can come to me to set up a conversation, but I always have to go back to the teacher for information anyway, so it’s good to start there.”

Miller is excited to get the school year started with students’ return in a couple of weeks. “We want to be involved with every student,” he said. “We will work to make their experience the best it can be and give them every opportunity we can … I’m not a big talker, so what I say is, just watch us. Folks should see what we do … folks will be proud of this school.”