On March 14, Mr. Hogan was appointed as a new assistant principal of Harriton High School. According to Dr. Eveslage, he will officially begin May 16 and handle the 1:1 laptop program, special education, and the academic awards ceremony; for the 2016-17 school year, the new principal will further determine Mr. Hogan’s responsibilities.

I sat down with Mr. Hogan to get to know him a little bit better.

Q: What about Harriton are you looking forward to most?

A: I am most excited to learn about the school community – to meet the students, teachers, staff, and parents. To assimilate into the school community is a really exciting opportunity.

Q: What is your prior experience in education?

A: My undergraduate degree is in French and psychology. I worked in business and then decided to go to West Chester to get my teacher certification. (Before I started teaching, I was the assistant men’s soccer coach at Widener University.)

I started out as a high school French teacher. I then had another job as a middle school French and social studies teacher. When I was working as a French teacher I got my administrative certification through Cabrini College.

I became the principal of two alternative education programs. In the school district of Lancaster, if students were expelled for weapons or drugs, they were sent to a school. The company I worked for managed and operated that school, so I oversaw the academics.

The other school was for students who were above age, but under-credentialed. For example, if a student dropped out of high school because they had a child and then later in life decided they wanted to finish their high school education, they would come to this school.

Then an opportunity arose at Avon Grove School District, where I currently am. This is my fifth school year as the assistant principal of Fred S. Engle Middle School. I started my doctoral work at the University of Delaware this fall. I am studying to get my doctorate in Education Leadership.

Q: What qualities do you have that helped you succeed at your previous school? 

A: I think developing relationships with people and respecting the role that everyone has in school and honoring and valuing the contributions that everyone makes. Students have a role to play in the building, teachers have a role, and so does the administrative staff.

I think one of the things that I pride myself on is having the utmost respect for the contributions that everyone makes and developing relationships with people and earning people’s trust and respect. I do that by being consistent and being fair. I want people to know what they are going to get from me. As an assistant principal, you are forced to deal with a lot of conflict and difficult situations, so being able to help resolve conflict effectively is crucial. Also, I try to recognize that I don’t know everything and that there are a lot of smart people out there – students and teachers – and to have the humility to recognize that there are things that I don’t know and at times need to ask for help.

Q: Can you give Harriton two fun facts about yourself?

A: Fun fact #1: I have moved 14 times. I grew up near Boston. I moved halfway through high school from near Boston to near Allentown.

Fun fact #2: I went to West Chester with Mr. Mapes [French teacher at Belmont Hills] and I did my student teaching at Belmont Hills Elementary School. To have the opportunity to start my teaching career in Lower Merion and kind of understand the way the District works and then have the opportunity to come back years later is really incredible.

Q: What do you think is the biggest challenge of switching to your new role? 

A: I think the timeline is not ideal. When you come partway through the year, let alone towards the end of the year, I think [that] obviously poses some challenges. Certainly coming after someone who has done such an exceptional job, I have big shoes to fill. So I think it’s important to meet as many people as I can.

There is a lot that is going on.  I’ve been fortunate to be able to take a couple personal days so I could come meet some people and sit in on some meetings, but transitioning in the middle of the school year is probably not the ideal time. My first official date will be May 16.

Q: Is there a message you would like to share with the Harriton community?

A: I am incredibly excited to be coming here. Truly, I feel honored and privileged to be chosen for the assistant principal job. I am very excited to come and spend the last part of the year with the student and sad that I will not have as much opportunity to interact with the seniors. Everyone that I have interacted with has been very gracious and very nice, so I am just really excited to join the community.