| 2/23/2010 1:02:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article |
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Scott Nichols/Review
Hazel Park Middle School Academy principal Coleman McDonough enjoys modeling correct reading behavior for an entire school of teens in need of love, respect, and intellectual challenge. |
| Age: 40
Raised: Arbor Street (West End)
Education: Cretin High School, St. John's University (B.A.), Concordia University (licensure), St. Mary's University (master's).
Family: Wife Jayme, daughters Jalen (11) and Peyton (9), and son Quinn (7).
Home: North Branch. ("It's my wife's fault. You can print that. She wanted horses," McDonough says.)
Fun fact: He wanted to be mayor, but lasted 18 months in St. Paul's City Hall
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Q and A with Coleman McDonough
The East Side Review sat down with the Hazel Park Middle School Academy principal in the wake of his recently being named 2010 Minnesota Middle Level Principal of the Year by the Minnesota Association of Secondary School Principals, after taking the helm of the school in 2007.
Q. It sounds like it's your administrative abilities that the judges - your brethren - took a shine to.
A. I'm a long-time coach. I've never - when I was a player, when I was a coach - been a big fan of individual awards in team sports. So, I'm being acknowledged for being this great principal. When in all actuality...if I didn't have great people around me, we wouldn't have had the success that we've had. So yes, I played a role in it, and I'd like to say I'm a valuable player on this team.
But it's like a football team. You don't even necessarily have to have the most talented people, but if you get everyone moving in the right direction ... I think that's one of the goals of a being a principal is setting the vision. Here's where we want to go, and then identifying a reasonable road map that suggests how to do this.
Q. A favorite interviewing question - what's your biggest weakness as principal?
A. I have not - we have not as an organization - figured out a way to connect with our parents. We are trying. The hard part is it's only a two-year deal...We're very intentional about the seventh-grade transition, so we take very good care of the kids, as far as that goes.
With the parents, it's a little harder, because how do you get them here? Well, we invite them here, we have an orientation...but parents are a little apprehensive about that transition.
But then, it's only two years, so by the time they start to feel comfortable with the Hazel Park teachers and how we do business, they're gone. So they're more reluctant to engage, at least right out of the chute. Well, in order to get continuity, in terms of parent involvement, you've gotta build those relationships. Well, in order to build those relationships, you've gotta spend time together. But we only have two years. So I think that presents a bit of a barrier for us.
Q. So if St. Paul moved to a three-year middle school experience...
A. I would love it. I would love it. There's obviously pros and cons, but from that perspective, to increase parent involvement, to increase the time that their kids spend here, would be very beneficial.
Q. Middle school is a tough transition for everybody?
A. The kids are going through some major changes in their life - they're developing physically, socially, academically. Everything's changing. I mean, boys and girls actually start to like each other, and so, that whole dynamic, it puts some people off, but we embrace it.
Q. Sounds like it's an opportunity to mold kids just like when they're newborns and toddlers.
A. Absolutely. And we absolutely take advantage of that. Once a month we do a character development. Our mission statement sums up who we are and what we're all about - or why we exist, is what I tell staff. We exist to lead minds to learning, hearts to compassion, and lives to community service.
I think particularly in an urban environment, we're creating a continuity of community for kids, that they are in a safe place...Kids don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care. Our kids here know we care about them.
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Reader Comments
Posted: Monday, March 22, 2010
Article comment by:
a student
Hey I am a student from HAzel Park Academy. The stuff that Mr. McDonough is saying is true. I am prond to be a student at a school where we dont just care about ourselfs but we care about the commuity around us. We also care about eachother. we helped the food shelf. And we have teachers that love to teach and love to be teachers. You can tell. The teachers around us love us and love having at HPA. I can't see myself at any other school but HPA. Other of my fellow peers my feel differently but I'm sure that I am not the only one.
sincerely,
A student
P.S. i truely hope that more students come to HPA even though we are a uniform school.
GO HORNETS!!!!!!!!
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