Josh Dann (Provided photo)

SARANAC LAKE — Saranac Lake High School Principal Josh Dann has been selected as the “New York State High School Principal of the Year” by the School Administrators Association of New York State for demonstrating “outstanding leadership, innovation and commitment to student success.”

Dann, who has been the SLHS principal for 13 years, said the honor came as a complete surprise to him.

He had learned in October that he had been nominated and only just recently found out that it was High School Monitor Jodie Wells who nominated him.

Wells said she just learned about this award and would have nominated him years ago if she had known. She knew he’d be awarded it from the moment she sent in the nomination.

The association said support for his nomination was “overwhelming.”

Saranac Lake graduate Carter Hewitt daps up Saranac Lake High School Principal Josh Dann as he crosses the stage at graduation in 2023. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

“His passion for his purpose has him working for the families of the Saranac Lake Central School District 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” Saranac Lake Mayor Jimmy Williams wrote.

“He possesses an authentic way of connecting with people that can’t be taught, and his dedication to the field of education, to students and to staff is unquestionable,” Saranac Lake Guidance Assistant Kathy McHugh wrote. “Dann is a one-of-a-kind person and principal, and we are so lucky to have him.”

“Some say that the people around us make us better,” 2025 SLHS graduate Sam Clark wrote. “We watch their character, commitment, energy and determination. These things inspire us to be better humans. Mr. Dann is a perfect example of this. He has personally changed my view of the world and has helped me become the man I’ve wanted to be.”

Dann and his fellow 2026 award winners will be recognized at SAANYS’ annual awards celebration on May 1 at the Desmond Hotel in Albany. Then, he’ll advance as New York’s candidate for the National High School Principal of the Year award.

Dann thanked his wife and three children for supporting him during hard times. And he thanked his students, staff and the community for their tireless effort making the school a better place. He thanked Superintendent Diane Fox and the administrative team for their guidance and support.

Saranac Lake graduate Emma Wood rounds out a secret handshake she has with Saranac Lake High School Principal Josh Dann by jumping into each other, shoulder-to-shoulder as Wood crosses the stage at graduation in 2022. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

October was National Principals Month. Wells said Dann always recognizes nurse’s week or counseling week.

“But Josh never toots his own horn,” she said.

He was dealing with the sudden loss of his father and she wanted to recognize the contributions he brings to the school.

Wells and High School Guidance Counselor Maria Braun started collecting letters of support for his nomination.

“It is an everyday thing for Josh,” Wells said. “He’s just that person every single day.”

She jokes that they should clone him because they need one of him everywhere. He’s “trustworthy,” she said.

“He’s delicate when he needs to be and he’s tough when he’s got to be,” Wells said.

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Pushing for greatness

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Dann said he always wanted to be a teacher. The ones he had when he attended Saranac Lake schools showed him structure and stability and inspired him. He wanted to return the favor. After graduating from SUNY Cortland with master’s and bachelor’s degrees in education, he worked in Syracuse for several years, where he became an administrator. Then, he decided to move home.

The association said Dann has expanded academic opportunities — with SLHS offering seven AP courses, 12 college-level courses, multiple CTE pathways and two New Vision programs.

“He developed an Academic Support Program providing daily interventions for at-risk students, contributing to significant improvements in achievement and graduation outcomes,” the association said.

The school’s four-year graduation rate has risen from around 83% when he started here, to 99% in 2021 and 95% in 2024.

Dann said graduation rates starts with having strong relationships with the students.

“The kids have to know that graduating from high school is a big deal and it should be something that they all expect,” he said.

It’s also something he expects of them, and he doesn’t “pull any punches” in his pushing them to get good grades. Dann also said the staff have high expectations for the students, coupled with a belief that every student can be successful.

“They have to know that you care,” Dann said.

Graduation rates are not often at 100%, and Dann said it hurts his heart every time.

He’s spent years learning about the different reasons why kids don’t come to school. He said it often comes down to that they don’t want to be there or that they’re not getting enough support at home. He learns about this by being out of his office. Walking around the school, observing students and classes or talking with them or their teachers is the best way to stay in tune with what’s happening to address absenteeism or slipping grades, he said.

He added that he helps the students, but he tells them diplomas are not free — they have to work for it.

Dann said he enjoys having fun at school, but that he also knows when it’s time to get down to business.

He’s raised tens of thousands of dollars in the annual Saranac Lake Turkey Trot for the past 11 years. This event supports the district’s Student Needs Fund, which helps students facing financial hardship with everything from food, clothing and heating assistance to covering the costs of internet access and exam fees. For the past decade, he’s walked 100 miles in the month leading up to Thanksgiving, raising up to $8,000 in a year. He’s always the lead fundraiser for the Turkey Trot.

He enjoys the job because he loves seeing progress. When ninth-graders arrive, there are a lot of unknowns and a lot of change in their lives. Mistakes are made. But he said when those students get to their junior and senior years and make fewer mistakes, that’s always encouraging.

The school has quarterly “breakfast awards” and Dann said he gets emotional every time.

“(You’re seeing) young adults grow right before your eyes,” he said.

Each class of students has its own personality, he said, and at graduation each year he enjoys telling them what makes them stand out from the many other classes he’s seen.

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Listening and leading

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Dann said the teachers are the experts. His job is to listen to them and make sure they have what they need and that there are minimal distractions. For staff who have been on the job for a while, he said they’re adjusting to students changing. Things that they did 12 years ago, they can’t do now.

The association said he’s also emphasized “shared leadership,” with senior student couriers, school board student representatives and a staff leadership committee shaping school operations and policy.

The School Administrators Association said the school’s bell-to-bell cellphone ban — which was implemented in 2023, two years before such as ban was implemented at schools statewide — was “one of the most notable cultural shifts” Dann was involved in.

He said he wanted to help students be more present.

Dann said this was one of the biggest adjustments the school has made in his time there. Now in its third year, he said there’s been ups and downs but that it’s been successful at decreasing social pressure and increasing human connection. The effort took the work of the whole staff at the school, he said.

It’s not always popular with the students, but his goal is for them to understand it’s for their own good.

Dann was asked if he has advice for his fellow principals around the state. He said their students need to be able to communicate, to have resilience and to know that life is about failing and responding to that failure properly.

His focus was not entirely on education, but on the character of the adults they send out into the world.

He keeps an eye on their college graduation rates, even after students have left the school.

This is not something that is just built and then completed. It must be constantly monitored and maintained.

Kids want to do right, he said, but this can easily slip. Guidance must be perpetual.

Dann also holds a School Administrator/Supervisor and School District Leader Certification from Syracuse University.

He is also president of the Saranac Lake Administrator’s Association and president of the Section VII Athletic Council. He’s been a longtime hockey official, varsity coach and former youth hockey leader and vice president of the Saranac Lake Civic Center Board.