Colton, CA—On February 17, Colton High School will welcome Mr. John Abbott as its next Principal. Many current students will remember Abbott as their Principal at Colton Middle School, where he served from 2015-2017.

With Joda Murphy leaving the Principalship to assume new duties as the district’s Director of School Improvement and Accountability, Abbott is now taking on more responsibility with his new principalship at Colton. He is excited to work with students and build on the hard and amazing work Murphy did for CHS and its students.

Abbott is no stranger to Colton High School. He was an Assistant Principal from 2013-2015. During that time, what struck Abbott about Colton was how deep roots run within the community. For him it is a source of pride to say Colton “felt like family.”

Family is very important to Abbott. He comes from a military family and has two daughters of his own, so family values have always been an important motivation for him.

In addition to family, other values that drive him are those of equity, hard work, excellence, and education.

Abbott is a strong believer that education is not just for students, but for himself and the staff on campus. Because of this, he “encourages failure,” believing that when we fail it’s part of the learning process of taking a chance to do something great and become better.

One of the ways he strongly believes will help himself become better is by listening to feedback from others. As Principal, this means listening and actively engaging staff, students, and the community.

With the community behind him, he can be his best and give back to students the best way he can. He intends to try his hardest to work with students’ needs to provide a place to learn in a safe and fun environment.

Abbott has also further realized his passion for working with students, and in a community. Because he comes from a military background, serving and helping others has always been engraved in him. Coming back to work after experiencing the pandemic and working with students in person, he has seen the importance of social and emotional needs. He hopes to hear about not only students’ academic needs, but also their social and emotional needs.

He’s also excited to get to know students and attend football games to show support for our school and get to know our community outside of just academics.

To keep himself going and ready to get to work, Abbott tells himself and staff to “be water.” Water will always find a way.

And Abbott believes he will find a way to be his best for CHS.