New MHS Principal Getting Right to Work

Newly appointed Michael Connolly served at school for nearly five years as assistant principal, and now he's settling into his new job.

He is replacing former principal Joseph Maruszczak, who left this year to take over Regional School District.

The chose Connolly over 43 other applicants after only a few weeks of being formed. All 11 subcommittee members voted unanimously for Connolly.

Connolly said his first project is working towards accreditation with New England Association of Schools and Colleges. Basically, the school will undergo a self assessment over the course of this year to see where it falls within the NEASC's standards, and fill in any gaps.

"It's pretty timely that were going through this right now," he said. "I think it will help shape our vision for the future, which is something that we got to work on."

Later in 2013, a visitation committee of other educators from the NEASC will visit MHS and see if the school is living up to social, civic and academic expectations. They then give a final report on things that can be worked and credits on what the committee feels are the school's strengths.

Also coming this year is the switch from the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) to the Common Core Standards. The CCS is a multi-state system, as opposed to MCAS, which are only statewide. Connolly said that this will allow states to compare students and how they are receiving their education. 

"When you're measuring students and you're teaching to these standards, you can compare it to other states," he said. "For example a graduate of Mansfield High School can compare themselves to a graduate of another state in terms of how well they meet the standards."

According to Prashant Kaw, who works at the Socrato Learning Analytics blog, the CCS and MCAS standards are nearly equal in educational value.

The new year will also herald the introduction of a new testing apparatus called a Park Assessment. Connolly said this is sort of like the current MCAS tests, but it will have informative assessments, which are shorter and will take place four times a year to track students' progress through the educational system.

"It's not unlike MCAS, but it will be a new thing that people will have to get used to," he said. "There's a lot of work to do."

Connolly grew up in Fitchburg, and originally didn't really know exactly what he wanted to do when he grew up. At first he thought he'd be a police officer, as many of his family went into law enforcement.

"I was one of those kids who kind of lived in the moment and didn't look to far ahead," he said. "I knew I was going to college, but really didn't know what I was going to study."

Connolly said he realized he never minded being in school all that much, and it really clicked for him when he started coaching.

"Through coaching, I kind of caught the bug of being an educator, and it took off from there," he said.

Connolly said that after his first year of college he knew teaching was what he was going to do. He started teaching in Fitchburg, where he met his wife and then moved to Stoughton, which is where she is originally from.

He then taught at Old Rochester Regional School as a history teacher; a subject he majored in during college. He taught there for 14 years before coming to Mansfield.