Dan Raditch

Infobox character
colour = #000080
colour text = #FFFFFF
series = Degrassi Junior High
Degrassi High
name = Daniel Raditch


caption =
first = "Kiss Me Steph"
("Degrassi Jr. High" episode 1)
last = ""
("Degrassi: The Next Generation" episode 4.13)
nickname = Dan
cause = Reassigned to other school
born =
death =
occupation = school administrator;
formerly schoolteacher
title = Principal ("" Seasons 1-4);
Assistant Principal ("Degrassi High");
English teacher ("Degrassi Junior High")
family =
spouse =
episode = 36
portrayer =Dan Woods
creator = Linda Schuyler and Yan Moore
residence = Toronto, Ontario
nationality = Canadian

Daniel "Dan" Raditch is a fictional character in the Degrassi series, played by Dan Woods.

Positions

Mr. Raditch during "Degrassi Junior High" & "Degrassi High" years

He served as a language teacher during the "Degrassi Junior High" years starting in 1979 (he mentions in a 2004 episode of "The Next Generation" that he has been on the Degrassi faculty for 25 years). As both English teacher and homeroom proctor of grade 8 class clown Joey Jeremiah (Pat Mastroianni), Mr. Raditch frequently instructs "Mr. Jeremiah" to remove his fedora. It is he who notifies Joey at the end of the academic year that his marks are insufficient for promotion with his friends, and that he must consequently repeat grade 8.

Mr. Raditch is appointed vice principal of Degrassi High School after the junior high school burns. Responsible for student discipline, he continues to frequently interact with Joey. When a rock band, the Savages, use the school as a filming location for a music video, it is shown that Mr. Raditch's duties include working at least some Saturdays. Student Archie "Snake" Simpson (Stefan Brogren) reports to him in a panic that there was a dead boy in the lavatory with a gun, and the two rush to the grotesque corpse of suicidal Claude Tanner (David Armin-Parcells).

Principal Raditch

Raditch became school principal in "" when Degrassi High School became Degrassi Community School. In the 2001-2002 school year, in addition to his duties as school principal, Mr. Raditch reprises his role as an English teacher on an interim basis when Ms. Kwan (Linlyn Lue) requests a temporary leave of absence.

His first name, Dan, is revealed in the second season episode, "White Wedding". Snake Simpson (now a teacher) addresses him with the customary formality of a subordinate to a superior at Snake's bachelor party, held at the home of Snake’s long-time friend, and Raditch’s former problem child, Joey. Raditch admonishes Snake that they are not at school and his name is Dan. Snake later addresses him as such in "Take on Me" on a Saturday in the schoolyard when offering advice, and in "Time Stands Still, Part 1" in frustration and anger. Snake is the only character ever seen addressing him as 'Dan'.

Mr. Raditch hosts Joey in his office once again in the third season episode "Father Figure"; this time to discuss the half-day truancy of Joey’s stepson Craig Manning (Jake Epstein).

In the third season episode "Take on Me", an homage to the 1985 film "The Breakfast Club", it is shown that Mr. Raditch still works at least some Saturdays, supervising in-school detention. The tacky suit and open-collar shirt he wears in the episode are a radical departure from his normal, conservative suits and are based closely upon the clothes worn by actor Paul Gleason as Principal Richard "Dick" Vernon in the "The Breakfast Club" nineteen years earlier. In the same episode, he is seen wearing casual athletic attire for the only time in any of the Degrassi series.

In 2004 he is assigned to another school, reportedly in response to his failure to prevent Rick Murray from shooting and paralyzing Jimmy Brooks, and Rick's own death. His successor, former science teacher, Daphne Hatzilakos, implicitly suggests that his reassignment may have been prompted more by his handling of the shooting's aftermath on school morale, and a move to put the incident in the past in the collective minds of the faculty and student body.