NDHSAA NEWS RELEASE (AUGUST 17, 2023)

VALLEY CITY, N.D. – The NDHSAA Board of Directors approved the appointment of Ryan Hanson, Principal at Devils Lake High School as a new Board Member representing the North Dakota Association of Secondary School Principals on Wednesday, August 16 during a special board meeting.

Hanson will fill the vacancy on the NDHSAA Board left by former Wahpeton High School Principal Ned Clooten who accepted a new position as Superintendent of Devils Lake Public Schools in July. Clooten completed the second year of his four-year term on the NDHSAA Board during the 2022-23 school year. Hanson will serve a one-year term for the 2023-24 school year. The NDASSP will bring forth nominees to complete the fourth year of the current NDASSP term on the NDHSAA Board of Directors at the NDHSAA General Assembly held in October. The individual elected following the 2023 NDHSAA General Assembly will serve a one-year term for the 2024-25 school year. The next NDASSP four-year term on the NDHSAA Board of Directors will begin in the 2025-26 school year.

Hanson, a 1988 Marion High School graduate, earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics education from Valley City State University and obtained his master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of North Dakota in 2005.

Hanson began his teaching career in Center in 1992, where he was the assistant girls basketball coach, junior high boys basketball coach, girls golf coach and speech coach for two years. Hanson continued his career in Crosby at Divide County High School. He started as the assistant for both boys and girls basketball before spending two years as the head coach for both programs. He also advised the Science Bowl and Academic Teams while assisting with Science Olympiad and Science Fair. Hanson made his way to Devils Lake in 1998. He was an assistant and junior high boys basketball coach and the head girls basketball coach. He also spent one year as the head girls basketball coach for the Munich-Starkweather co-op. Ryan began his administrative career as the Devils Lake High School principal in 2004.

Hanson joins Mitch Lunde (Minot Public School Athletic Director, Class A West Representative), Larry Derr (Superintendent at Glenburn School, Class B Northwest Representative) and Adam Tescher (North Dakota Department of Public Instruction Representative) as new members on the NDHSAA Board of Directors for the 2023-24 School Year.