Ripon Unified School District Superintendent Ziggy Robeson hosted a breakfast Wednesday morning in the Ripon High multi-purpose room for some 100 volunteers and staff members who have contributed to the successes of the school district during the year.
Five community leaders were also placed in school principals’ offices to act as the bosses for the day.
There are over 3,000 students in the district’s seven schools speaking 13 languages. There is a staff of 329. Over 400 students ride school buses and nearly nine percent receive special services with 37 percent of those being economically challenged.  The high school has 13 Advanced Placement (AP) courses for its students to choose from for their daily schedules.  The district also addresses the needs of the 11 percent of English learners.
Thee are four schools that have been recognized as California Distinguished/Gold Ribbon Schools: Colony Oak, Weston, Ripon Elementary and Ripona Elementary.  Park View and Weston Elementary Schools have also been cited as honor roll schools. Ripon High School was recognized in 2017 by the U.S. News and World Report as being in the top 10 percent of high schools nationwide.
Ripon Unified’s total budget exceeds $31 million with 43 cents on every dollar going toward certified instructors and some 22 cents toward benefits.
Those community leaders who were assigned to principal for the day duties on Wednesday included: Bob Willey, David Phippen, Crystal Lee, Dylan George, and Dr. Debra Daniels, DVM. 
Willey served his day as principal of Ripon High School with its administrator Keith Rangel.  Willey graduated from the University of Arizona where he played football and began his career in education becoming a substitute teacher at various Southern California schools.  In 1982 he managed his older brother Ron’s third Pizza Factory location.  It wasn’t long before he opened the first Pizza Plus restaurant in Ripon.
Phippen grew up farming almonds with his family in Ripon. He became the principal for the day under Dana Phelps. He spent his day with students and teachers in the classrooms and the cafeteria.  In high school Phippen was involved in the FFA and ran his own hog production operation in an old barn surrounded by his dad’s almond orchard. He has been credited with balancing farming, family and volunteer work with tireless dedication in 1991.  Phippen is seen as a thoughtful public speaker, advocate, and ambassador of the agriculture industry. Today he is involved in the day-to-day operation of Travaille & Phippen Almond Growers and Processors in Ripon. 
Lee spent her day in and around the Park View Elementary School campus and in Eva Matthew’s principal’s office.  She is a full-time TV host for a lifestyle show on CBS called “This is SF.” Prior to her television involvement Lee founded Life Site – a Silicon Valley startup that is a web-based solution for storing all of life’s vital information and documents – also having worked at Google and Dropbox.  She was the first runner-up in the Miss America 22014 Pageant, Miss California 2013 and Miss Chinatown USA 2010.  She was also chosen as Miss California’s Outstanding Teen in 2008.  Lee is a Stanford University grad with a B.A. in Human Biology and a Master’s degree in Communications.
PG&E’s Dylan George took over the principal spot with his mentor for the day, Gregg Elliott at Ripona School.  He has worked for the utility company for the past seven years as its public affairs representative for the Stockton Division.  He serves as political, public policy and community representative for the counties of San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Tuolumne, Amador and Alpine.  George grew up in Modesto and attended UCLA earning degrees in Political Science and Communications studies. 
Daniels operates her own veterinary hospital in Ripon and joined Colony Oak’s principal Cheryl Griffiths for the day at the Murphy Road campus.  She has had one son and two grandchildren who have attended Colony Oak.  She graduated from the U.C. Davis School of Veterinary Medicine in 1979 and prior to that earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in Zoology also from Davis.  She founded the Ripon Veterinary Hospital in 1984.
At Ripon Elementary Wednesday, Phippen had lunch with a dozen teachers in their lounge near the office and noted they were all women except for Eric Dambrosio who teaches fourth grade.  Phippen said he read a horse story book to the fourth graders, “Mare on a Hill,” emphasizing what it would cost for a student to feed that horse if it belonged to them. 
He said he gave them a mathematical problem to determine how much one bale of hay would cost them and they quickly came up with the correct answer: $12.50.  Asking who would pay for that at their house – they all responded: Dad.
In his day at Ripon Elementary he crossed path with two of his grandchildren, Sam in second grade and Claire in the fourth grade. He also worked serving students their lunches in the school cafeteria where most took chicken nuggets and avoided the taco sticks in plastic bags.
At the end of his day Wednesday he was asked to speak to the two eighth grade classes of teachers Aline white and Jessie Rangel. Phippen told students about the possible vocations that lay ahead for them in the work world.  

To contact Glenn Kahl, email gkahl@mantecabulletin.com.