O’Brien finds job rewarding, challenging

Sunday, February 5, 2012

RIDGWAY - In his position as superintendent of Ridgway Area School District for approximately six months, Mike O'Brien said the job is rewarding and challenging.
"My administrative experience was primarily at the secondary level and now my focus needs to be K-12, which brings new opportunities to learn, new challenges and new things to understand," O'Brien said. "The diversity of the demands are definitely apparent after six months," he said with a smile and a laugh.
O'Brien has 14 years of administrative experience. He served as principal of New Oxford High School in Adams County for eight years. Prior to that, he served as an administrative assistant for two different school districts.
For O'Brien, his role as superintendent is categorized into three parts - curriculum, resources and the business side of the district.
One of his first challenges was getting accustomed to the mindset of educating students K-4 as his entire career has involved grades 5-12.
In the Ridgeay school district, the superintendent's office is attached to the K-5 building, making this hurdle an accessible challenge. O'Brien said about two to three days a week he can be seen taking time to peek into each of the classrooms absorbing what the students are learning and how they are learning.
"The students in this building, as well as in the secondary building, are used to seeing me. I go into the classrooms, I observe what is going on, I've been involved in a Professional Learning Community with 10 of our elementary teachers and the prinicpal where we talk about literacy and we've been doing that for about three months," O'Brien said.
He said in his former job he administered to about 1,400 students and 100 employees. In the Ridgway Area School District, he has about 1,000 students and about 100 employees across the board.
"The number of people I'm responsible for hasn't changed," O'Brien said.
In terms of resources, O'Brien said he views his role as superintendent as him being available as a support system for every stakeholder in the district from parents, students, teachers, board members and staff.
"My job is to support them, whether it be understanding why things are done the way they are done, identifying things that may help their children, or putting resources in place to help our teachers," O'Brien said. "That is my job."
He said he also believes his job is to create an environment each of those stakeholders can appreciate by giving the school a friendly and open atmosphere.
"I'm a pretty open person, I'm a pretty positive person, I enjoy interacting with people," O'Brien said. "I'm a problem solver and I find that to be challenging and very rewarding."
As O'Brien makes his rounds, entering each classroom with a warm smile and a hello, no sense of shock, distraction, or foreignness overcomes the students or teacher as this kind of pop-in visit is a regular occurrence.
He jokes that students usually just look up, say "it's just Mr. O," and continue with their lesson. O'Brien admitted sometimes in his walkabouts he'll even pass through recess, grab a basketball, and go in for a layup.
"That's part of the culture I was to create here. I want the kids to know me," O'Brien said. "Kids need that connection. They all need to feel connected to one another and the staff."
The business of education is another aspect of the position O'Brien is adjusting to.
"As I continue to grow in this role that will be the final piece that I need to gain a better understanding of," O'Brien said.
The district, he said, is fortunate to have an experienced business manager in Brett Rhodes.
"Our initial reports (from the audit) are very good that our practices and procedures that have been in place here for years are very sound. We're providing the types of checks and balances we need to run a good organization from a business perspective," O'Brien said.
A clean audit report doesn't wipe the slate clean for the next budget year however. Some of the concerns O'Brien has about the upcoming budget include: The uncertainty of state funding allocations; the political tug-of-war currently taking place with funding for charter schools and cyber schools; and although vouchers have been defeated for now, O'Brien isn't so sure it is a dead issue.
"All those uncertainties of the budget are the things that keep you awake at night a little bit," O'Brien said.
O'Brien received his undergraduate degree in secondary education and educational science, then attended Westminister, Maryland College in school administration. He graduated from Imaculata with a doctorate degree in 2005.
He said when he started his doctoral work, he set a goal that he wanted to be a superintendent before he retired. Defining himself as slightly "non-traditional," O'Brien pursued other careers before settling into education, including time in the military and owning a private business.
"The very first thing I ever did at the district (where he first worked) was sweep the floor so we could have eighth grade basketball practice as I was coaching basketball as the first job I had in the school," O'Brien said. "I went from sweeping the floors to being superintendent."
"I feel very fortunate that I ended up in Ridgway," he said.
When the board hired O'Brien, they asked what his goals and iniatives for the first year were.
"I said very honestly I had no iniatives, but that my goal is very simple. I want to spend a year learning the role of superintendent, learning what strengths are currently in place in our district, and then analyzing that over the summer and with the assistance of the administrative team and the input of our staff," O'Brien said.
Two things that stick out for him as potential future initiatives for the district are educational time and literacy from K-12.
"I believe the literacy component is the backbone of all learning. If children can't read and comprehend it is hard to teach them content out of a science book or social studies book," O'Brien said.
"Time is really the only thing we have control over. We have x-number of days, our days are x-hours long. We can't waste a minute, we can't waste an hour. With all the things we need to do for our children to get them ready to be successful, time is of the essence," O'Brien said.
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Reported by Katie Weidenboerner, Tri-County Sunday. Email: katiew@thecourierexpress.com.