Vowing to change Southfield High’s image, Michael Horn was hired as the seventh new principal in the last five years at Southfield High, on Aug. 22.

Horn’s goal is to change the image of Southfield High. He said, “Southfield is the underdog. I like the underdog; that’s why I’m here.”

Horn says he wishes to build relationships with the 1,600 students and to show the community that Southfield has potential. The community hears negative comments about Southfield High, Horn says. “We are blessed with very, very talented students and teachers. Southfield High is the best kept secret in Oakland county.”

Horn graduated from Alabama A & M and earned his master’s degree in teaching administration from Eastern Michigan University.

He is a familiar face to the Southfield Public School system. In 1986 he was the first African-American administrator hired in Southfield Public Schools. He then became principal of Thompson Middle School for 13 years. Horn, 48, then made his way to Brace-Lederle School, where he remained principal for seven years.

Horn says he was offered a job in Bloomfield Hills but chose to remain in Southfield.

Horn’s famous quote is, “I may laugh, and I may joke, but I swear I do not play.”

He believes the key to success is “to tell people what you expect and hold them accountable for it. No matter if it’s teachers or students. A principal must be consistent and have high visibility.”

Junior D’Chell Price remembers Horn as her middle school principal. “He would always walk the halls and say ‘Hi,’ to everybody.”

Michael Leslie Horn succeeds Interim Principal Rita Teague, who succeeded Principal Anthony Muhammad, who resigned over the summer. Prior to Muhammad, a flurry of short-term principals ran Southfield High after Donald Jones retired in 2002.

Superintendent Wanda Cook-Robinson vows Horn is a keeper who is here to stay: “This principal will be here when this (new) area is old and gray.”