Corona, CA Welcomes new Principle to Santiago High School.

Two of the district's three high schools will have new leadership when students return to school in August.

The principals at Rialto and Eisenhower high schools are both leaving their posts.

Eisenhower Principal Reggie Thompkins, 42, will be moving to the 4,000-student Santiago High School in Corona, and Rialto High Principal Mehran Akhtarkhavari, 45, is off to Africa, where he will be an administrator at the International School of Lusaka in Zambia.

"It's a good move for my family," said Thompkins, who is planning to move to the Corona area, close to where his wife's family lives.

It's been a dream of Akhtarkhavari's to work in international education, he said.

"It's got nothing to do with Rialto. I mean here is an opportunity that I've got in front of me," he said.

Carter Assistant Principal Andres Luna will take over at Rialto, though a replacement for Thompkins hasn't been named.

In the interim, Assistant Principal Tom Hoak and former principal Armand Messer will run the school.

Thompkins, who's led Eisenhower for three years, said the school will be OK without him.

"I say the staff is intact on that campus, and they're the ones - along with the students - who have created that environment," he said.

Akhtarkhavari will be the deputy director of the International School of Lusaka, which has 600 students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

"I kind of admire my wife coming along," he said, noting that moving across the ocean will be a big change for him. "Our whole life had to be reduced to a 4-by-4-by-4 crate."

He joked that his most important accomplishment as principal was that the Associated Student Body now takes credit cards, making it easier for students to purchase things like prom tickets and yearbooks.

"I cannot take credit for anything else," he said.

Luna, 50, said he wants to improve Rialto High's graduation rate and send more students to college, in part by working together with students, teachers and parents.

"I am hoping to raise the student achievement, to really bring the staff together, to really make a difference in the students' lives academically," he said. Luna, who called himself a "team player" and a "good listener," has worked in the district for 24 years.

Akhtarkhavari and Thompkins both said they'll miss Rialto.

"My message is thanks for the memories. It's been wonderful, and see you around the world," Akhtarkhavari said.