Larry Bradley

Larry Bradley

Written by Rachel Youens Saturday, 07 April 2007

When Larry Bradley became principal at Pflugerville High School he was amazed at his predecessor’s nine-year run, but after a decade in the district he began to understand why people stayed. Now with 26 years behind him, he looks more to new projects than retirement.

“I’ve stayed at PHS for so long because there was always change going on, always a new challenge, something to work through,” Bradley said. “It’s not been the same problems every year. The community wasn’t even static, it was always growing and changing and every year brought a new set of circumstances.”

Next year, Bradley will take on yet another challenge as president of the National Association of Secondary School Principals. During his two-year term he’ll help pass the experience and knowledge he’s gained onto other staff across the country.

“One of the biggest problems with being principal is not keeping the perspective of what the teacher has to deal with in the classroom and getting removed from teaching,” Bradley said. “Talking with teachers and understanding what they’re going through is so much better than making decisions in isolation.”

Before taking the job at PHS, Bradley was a teacher in the Azle Independent School District near Fort Worth. He knew the city of Pflugerville as little more than a road sign he passed on his way around Texas, but when offered the job at PHS the small town appealed to him. When he took over as principal, the school had only 500 students. Today enrollment pushes 2,100.

Bradley has experienced not only the teacher perspective and the principal perspective, but also the parent perspective. Both of his daughters were students at PHS during his time as principal.

“It actually worked out well for them and me. They usually showed up when they had forgotten their lunch money or to get me to sign a permission slip. The only thing they ever complained about was the corny announcements I would make [over the intercom system]. I’m probably guilty of that, though.”

His daughters followed in their parents’ footsteps and became educators. Hellen Barczi teaches at Hendrickson High School and Reese Weirich, an assistant principal in the district, has worked at Immanuel Lutheran Day School after the birth of her daughter. Bradley’s wife, Cynthia, English department chairman at Hendrickson High School, will retire this spring after 26 years in the district.

One of the biggest ways Bradley feels he’s affected the community through the years is through the talent he’s helped put back into it.

“I was able to help Mike Tannehill (former assistant principal at PHS) become the principal at Connally High School [when it opened in 1996]. Lori Einfalt was also an assistant of mine and I was able to help her become principal at Hendrickson High School,” Bradley said. “I like to think that I contributed to their success and helped them on their way.”

Bradley also feels pride for the students he’s turned out into the community, but over time he cannot keep count of all of them and never knows when one will appear.

“I never go more than two days without shaving because I never know when I’ll run into a student at the grocery store,” he said. “I have to make sure I always keep in line, especially at the football games.”

So with a 26-year career behind him, retirement still isn’t a priority for Bradley.

“I always said I’d retire when the job stops being fun, but really it’s just getting easier every year.”

Bradley began his involvement with the National Association of Secondary School Principals through its regional chapter in Texas. He was elected to serve a two-year term as the national organization’s president. Bradley will publicly represent the organization at events such as conventions, governmental department meetings and congressional hearings. Bradley says one of his personal goals in the position is to help the high school education system break free from its original agricultural model.