Mike Giaime, who for the past five years has been assistant principal at Del Norte High, has been named the new principal at Ramona High School.
Giaime, who was chosen from among more than 10 candidates, is expected to replace retiring Principal Antoinette Rodriguez on July 1.
Giaime, 49, is a seasoned educator with 25 years of experience in the Poway Unified School District. The Rancho Bernardo resident of 23 years has a background in istration, athletics and instructional leadership.
“I feel like this opportunity came up and I was able to read a little bit about the job opening,” said Giaime, who has two daughters with his wife, Jennifer Giaime. “I’ve always had an affinity for the Ramona community and ired its hard-working people. My wife grew up in Fallbrook, and Fallbrook and Ramona are very similar communities. I felt it was a good fit and a good opportunity.”
Ramona Unified School District trustees unanimously approved his hiring at their April 22 meeting.
“We’re very excited about bringing Mr. Giaime on board and we are deeply indebted to Mrs. Rodriguez for her 31 years of commitment to Ramona staff, students and families,” said district Superintendent Brian Thurman.
Rodriguez has worked at the district since 1994, as a teacher, coach and .
“We appreciate her relentless pursuit of improving Ramona High School and all the school’s areas, from curriculum, instruction and athletics to special education and counseling – the whole gamut of the high school,” Thurman said.
After the school board’s approval of his appointment, Giaime said he connected with Rodriguez to start preparing for the transition.
“I am thankful for her collaboration and her work throughout the years that she spent at Ramona,” he said. “She has a lot of institutional knowledge and I would like to tap into it.”
As assistant principal at Del Norte High School, which primarily serves the communities of 4S Ranch and Del Sur, Giaime said he has overseen the school’s content team, nutritional science, social science, math, special education and all of athletics.
He has a dual major in elementary education and in special education at Northern Arizona University where he graduated in 1999. A few years later, in 2002, he completed his master’s in special education at California State University, San Marcos. He also holds istrative credentials from Cal State San Marcos and San Diego State University.
Giaime was hired as a special education teacher at his alma mater, Mt. Carmel High School in Rancho Penasquitos, in 1999. He then spent the first decade of his career as a special education teacher.
After Del Norte High opened in 2009, Giaime became the school’s first athletic director and built its athletic program from the ground up. He brought experience in sports as a former football, baseball and basketball player at Mt. Carmel High and college athlete. His wife also played softball while attending the University of Kansas; their daughter, Emma, 20, plays softball at the University of San Diego; and their younger daughter, Brooklyn, 17, plays softball at Del Norte High.
When Giaime transitioned to the role of assistant principal at Del Norte High in 2020, he shared responsibility for overseeing roughly 2,600 students in grades 9-12, he said.
He also assisted in supervising $22.5 million in building expansion projects, he said. Those projects included building seven science and social science classrooms, repainting the entire school, adding three turf fields, and installing low-energy, low-impact lighting on the baseball, softball and lower practice fields.
A few of his accomplishments are founding a Nighthawk Tutoring free tutoring program, leading an Anti-Racism Equity Task Force, and serving on the North County Conference COVID-19 task force for safe athletic program resumption, he said.
Giaime said he is eager to start collaborating with Ramona High students, teachers, staff and parents and focus on promoting initiatives that benefit students, ensuring that they feel a sense of belonging on campus and in the community.
“It was a good match for me to come in with my ideas to grow the community,” Giaime said. “I look forward to listening, learning and growing with the staff.
“Obviously, my hobbies are athletics and fitness, trying to be healthy,” he added. “I have a ion for education and really feel like this is going to be a fantastic experience.”
Rodriguez has been principal at Ramona High for the past two years. She replaced the previous principal, Tony Newman, as interim principal in January 2023, and the following March was unanimously approved by the school board as a permanent principal.
She worked as a physical education teacher at Canyon Springs High School in Moreno Valley. A few years later, from 1990 to 1993, she attended Azusa Pacific University to earn a master’s in education.
In 1994, she and her husband, John, moved from Moreno Valley so she could teach physical education and coach volleyball and softball at Ramona High. After teaching P.E. and coaching for about 15 years, Rodriguez rose through the ranks to become a teacher-on-assignment for the district in 2009.
When then-Ramona High Assistant Principal Dave Lohman transferred to Montecito High School to serve as principal of that campus in 2012, Rodriguez filled the vacancy in Ramona.
Rodriguez, who turns 60 years old in May, said she plans to spend time with her three children in Texas after retiring.
“Ramona and RHS have been my home for the past 31 years,” she said in an email. “It is a great community to raise children as my own three kids are Ramona High School alumni. I have nothing but the utmost respect for RUSD and the people who work at Ramona High School. I am thrilled to end my career as a Ramona Bulldog, because today, and every day, is a GREAT day to be a Bulldog.”
