Building the Future of West

Principal John McCabe has taken over the Longhorn reins at a difficult time for schools nationwide. With critical teacher and staff shortages, pressing concerns over school safety in the wake of deadly shootings and students recovering from the tolls of the pandemic — not to mention the construction — he has many challenges ahead. 

As the new administration settles in, they must consider the concerns of students, staff and parents. McCabe hopes to support and celebrate teachers.

“I love that teachers have the ability to bring content to life. The most exciting thing for me is to watch the creativity of these amazing professionals in action. [Teaching] is a challenging profession. If you try something new and it fails, that’s okay. You did some great work,” McCabe said. 

After getting his Bachelor’s degree at Fontbonne University, McCabe taught psychology, English, history and more for nine years. In 2012, he earned his Master’s degree in educational leadership at Maryville University. After working as an assistant principal at Maplewood Richmond Heights, McCabe served as principal of Fern Ridge High School for three years. His experience has informed his leadership methods. 

“Good leaders empower those people around you to also be leaders. My vision of leadership is to be behind the scenes, making others successful and empowering individuals. I want to work with student leaders to give them the opportunity to lead and I want to empower assistant principals to work with their grade levels in collaboration with me,” McCabe said. 

He also hopes to continue upholding school traditions, including our Homecoming Parade. McCabe is a fan of the NFL, Blues and Cardinals, and even attends the Fox Theatre in his free time, so showing school spirit comes naturally to him. 

“I want to go to everything. I want to see everything. A goal of mine is to get to games, practices [and] events anytime that I can, [where] you get students to see what they’re passionate about,” McCabe said. 

However, McCabe is determined to enforce some changes, even if they are unpopular. One of McCabe’s primary job responsibilities is to prioritize building and district procedures in place. However, he heavily encourages students to communicate with him.

“Those are things that are gonna tighten up that I know might not be popular. For individuals that don’t want to follow a policy and procedure, I’m working on talking with those individuals, hearing them, explaining that it is a policy I have to follow [and] why the policy is the way it is. If they want to experience all the school has to offer, we have to abide by the policies and procedures and then try to find some common ground,” McCabe said. “I would focus heavily on being empathetic, being kind, really putting yourself in another person’s position and respecting each and every individual person’s choices and views on any particular topic.”

For constituents with concerns, his door is always open.

“I want to work with you. If you disagree with me on something, I’m always going to be willing to talk with you about it. That doesn’t mean I’m always going to give you the answer that you want. I’m going to evaluate it and talk it through with you, but at the end of the day I’m going to make decisions that are in the best interest of students, teachers, staff members, community teachers, parents and the building,” McCabe said. “One of the most important things for people is the idea of a work family. I want to bring our staff together and give them opportunities to have fun and experience new things. I like to laugh and joke and create a place people like to be. I like to celebrate people. I want to do those little things to let people know that I’m invested in them and care about them. I want to be somebody that people can count on.”

To reach out to Dr. McCabe, please email him at [email protected] and call or text him at (314) 415-7501.