Brandon Bruce hired as Hart High School principal

OCP photo

Pirate News is a presentation of Hart Public Schools in partnership with Oceana County Press. 

By Allison Scarbrough, Editor

HART – Brandon Bruce is excited to be back as Hart Public Schools high school principal.

Bruce, 53, was hired back at Hart Public Schools two years ago as the Spitler Elementary School principal after serving as superintendent of his alma mater in the Upper Peninsula, Gwinn Public Schools.

Prior to the UP superintendent job, he served as Hart High School principal from 2018-2021. Troy Moran took the reins at HHS when Bruce accepted the superintendent job. Tragically, Moran, 46, died from a heart attack while out on a run April 27, 2024. 

Moran’s close friend and former colleague Ken Byard came out of retirement and left a new job to step in as principal following Moran’s death.

Bruce took over the Spitler Elementary School principal position in 2023 after Andrea Degen accepted a position as the Hart district’s early childhood director.

He officially began his duties Monday, Aug. 4, at the high school. “This is a great place and a great staff,” he said. “We have five new staff starting this fall. Being in a position to support some of those staff and help them transition into these new roles is a key and also continuing to offer what we offer and advancing the district with how we want to prepare our kids for the future is extremely vital.” Bruce said a stronger focus on trades fields is critical in this day and age, and that is one of his goals as the new principal. “We just need to dive into that.”

He plans to resurrect Career Day at the high school, which is a program he launched during his first round as Hart High School principal. “We had about 25 speakers come in, and the kids rotated to different careers.” The following year in 2020, the event was cancelled due to COVID-19 shutdowns. “I don’t think that it ever came back. Doing something like that would be awesome — getting speakers in here to talk about careers that kids don’t know about.”

Bruce said he is getting a warm “welcome back” from staff. “The staff is fantastic. “I’ve had a number of the high school staff reach out, which has been very nice. I appreciate that.”

He hopes his return will provide stability after the last few transitional years. “Ken was fantastic, and I enjoyed working with Ken. I want to pick up where he left off and see what else I can do to advance that. I am excited about it.”

He and his wife Amy moved into a home in close proximity to the school campus when he first came to Hart in 2018, and they kept the home knowing they wanted to stay here.

Bruce is certified to drive school buses and drove the bus frequently in the UP in his superintendent role and as Hart’s elementary principal. This year will be his 30th year in education.

Bruce, a Central Michigan University alumnus, played football for the Chippewas. The administrator has a strong sports background. “I spent 23 years coaching football, basketball and track.” He’s also been a registered official for many years and taught physical education for 11 years.

The Upper Peninsula native taught at Iron Mountain for a year. In Newberry, and then transitioned from teaching to administration. He served as a part-time teacher, part-time administrator and head football coach.

He began his teaching career in 1996 in Charlevoix, where he taught for four years. He spent the bulk of his administration career in Union City, where he was a middle school principal for 11 years. Both of his sons graduated from Union City High School, which is located in southwest Michigan.

Bruce obtained his bachelor’s degree in education in 1995 and then a master’s degree in administration from CMU.

Now the district is searching for an elementary school principal. Bruce said he is handling principal duties at the elementary school simultaneously until a new leader there is hired. “Right now I’m in both buildings. Today I’m here, and tomorrow I will be over there. There is a great staff over there too,” he said of the Spitler school. “They’re great people — they love kids. I enjoyed my time over there.”

The search for a new superintendent is also underway as Superintendent Mark Platt recently announced he will retire at the end of the upcoming school year.

Classes begin at Hart Public Schools for the 2025-26 school year, Sept. 2.

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