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He may have just started at his current assignment, but for Ronald Cropper, Berwyn Heights Elementary School's new assistant principal, some things are common — no matter the school.

While strolling through the school Feb. 26, Cropper tucked his head into a fourth-grade classroom just in time to see a desk full of books topple over and spill everything to the floor.

"You have to be ready for everything," said Cropper as he carried the desk over his head and out of the room. "With teachers and students."

Lynn McCawley, a spokeswoman with Prince George's County Public Schools, said that although most principal transitions happen over the summer, Cropper, 38, was asked to transfer to Berwyn Heights Elementary School on Feb. 1 following a two-year stint as an assistant principal at Suitland High School. Cropper replaced former Assistant Principal Sharon Cook, who retired on Dec. 31. Cook was the school's first and only assistant principal since the school re-opened in 2002.

Moving from a high school with seven other assistant principals to an elementary school where he is the only one has been an adjustment, but Cropper, who lives in Calvert County, said "there are more similarities than differences."

"My responsibility first and foremost is students and any concerns that they may have," Cropper said. "The other area, of course, is to the teachers and making sure they have what they need to do their very best."

When he's not at the school, he's also busy continuing his own education by pursuing the Community College Leadership Doctoral Program at Morgan State University. Cropper has been in the education field since 1993, and says he's never had any second thoughts about what he wants to do with his life.

"Education is a passion of mine and I enjoy it," he said.

Though his office is filled with numerous drawings from kindergarten students welcoming him to the school, Cropper rarely spends time there. Instead, he can often be found visiting each of the school's classrooms, where he might be faced with issues that happened on the bus ride in that morning or have to make a call to repair the heat.

Though he's still learning the school, staff and students, he is committed to maintaining the high standards already set.

"In terms of goal-setting, I definitely want to see the school continue to move in the direction that it's going," Cropper said. Berwyn Heights Elementary has met the Annual Yearly Progress, or AYP, every year since 2004.

Principal Karen Singer said she was happy to be working with Cropper.

"We are thrilled to have someone of his experience and background," Singer said. "He has a wealth of knowledge about technology, and this is really an area that we need support."