Seek friendship, speak truth, and do brave things.
Many students at Walpole High are quite familiar with this slogan, as Mr. Edward Connor, current assistant principal at WHS, has taught these three messages every Friday on the morning announcements during his segment, “Mr. Connor’s Corner.” However, Mr. Connor will soon be delivering the same message to a younger demographic. This September, students at Bird Middle School will welcome Mr. Connor as their new assistant principal, as he takes the place of current assistant principal Damon Rainie.
Mr. Connor has been an educator for over 22 years, starting his career as a Spanish teacher at Oakmont Regional High School in Ashburnham, MA. The following year, Mr. Connor took a new position as the Foreign Language Department Head and Spanish teacher at Natick High School. Mr. Connor stayed in Natick until 2005, when he accepted his position as an assistant principal at Walpole High.
Mr. Connor made his decision to transition to his new position as an administrator at Bird Middle School in the hopes of gaining experience as a middle school administrator.
Looking towards the future, Mr. Connor acknowledged that at some point, he may pursue a job as head principal at a middle school; however, he has no immediate plans to make that transition. His upcoming job at Bird Middle School will give him experience as a middle school administrator.
“I would not be a middle school principal without the experience working in a middle school,” he said. Mr. Connor is also happy about staying within the district, and looks forward to a change while staying within the community.
Approaching his new position at Bird Middle School, Mr. Connor has several hopes about working at a smaller school with younger students. Mr. Connor hopes to give the students, specifically the eigth graders an idea of what it is really like to be a high schooler.
Rising high school freshman often hear stories about what high school will be like. Mr. Connor said, “I can tell them the actual facts, because I have done this for so long. I know what you need to do to be successful in high school.” As he has spent the past ten years as an assistant principal at a high school, he is also aware of the problems that students will run into– both socially and academically.
Mr. Connor plans to carry on his traditional “Mr. Connor’s Corner” each Friday morning on the BMS news. The short segment on the Rebel Report, Walpole High’s morning news, previously featured special segments on days such as Valentine’s Day or Prom. Matt Moriarty, a junior at Walpole High, has recently started working as a news anchor for the Rebel Report, and has been watching segments of Mr. Connor’s Corner on the Friday morning news since his freshman year. He said, “I think Mr. Connor’s Corner is a great way to convey lessons that students would not normally learn in a classroom setting, while still at school.”
At his new position at Bird Middle School, it will be Mr. Connor’s first experience working alone as an assistant principal. For the past 10 years, Mr. Connor has worked alongside another administrator with the same role, as each assistant principal has half of the student body to serve.
Mr. Connor feels well prepared for the new experience, as he is familiar with Bridget Gough, current Bird Middle School principal, as well as Johnson Middle School administrators. He said, “Whatever middle school issues that I need help dealing with, I know that there are people there that I can talk to – in my school, as well as the other middle school.” One of Mr. Connor’s main goals is to help both middle schools work together, as both schools share similar goals.
In just a few months, students at Bird Middle School will be listening to Mr. Connor deliver his famous message, “seek friendship, speak truth, and do brave things,” upon his arrival at the school in September.
