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Date: 6/18/2015
WILBRAHAM – Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District (HWRSD) Curriculum Director Timothy Connor recently announced that he would leave the district for a similar position in West Springfield. His last day will be July 17.
He will begin serving as the director of curriculum, instruction, and assessment in West Springfield on July 20. He will make $108,000.
Connor told Reminder Publications he was born and raised in West Springfield and previously worked for five years at West Springfield High School in various positions, including as a physical education and health teacher, and as vice principal, before leaving to work at Minnechaug Regional High School in 1999 as an associate principal.
Connor, a Westfield resident, said he is also excited to get back to his roots in West Springfield as well as getting to know the teachers throughout the district.
“I have a daughter who is 12 [years old] … I’m excited to be a little bit closer to home,” he added.
In 2011, Connor became HWRSD’s curriculum director.
“I’ve been able to work beside some of the best educators in the state as well as some of the best superintendents and principals,” he said of his 16 years working in the district.
HWRSD Superintendent M. Martin O’Shea said he considers Connor a great friend and colleague.
“We worked together for 10 of his 16 years in HWRSD beginning at Minnechaug in 2005, where he was the associate principal and I was the principal,” O’Shea said. “We have shared a lot of laughs and many successes over the past decade. Tim is an unassuming professional who understands that relationship building is at the heart of leadership.”
Connor said he has made friendships in the district and the Hampden-Wilbraham community that he will cherish forever and that he will miss the passion for education that he found within the towns.
“There’s a dedication to their children and to the educational success of their children [in Hampden and Wilbraham],” he noted.
O’Shea said he has begun working on a plan to identify Connor’s successor.
The West Springfield School District added the position of curriculum director back into its fiscal year 2016 budget. It was previously eliminated, and Superintendent of Schools Michael Richard said reincorporating the position back into the district was a necessary step.
“We realized the importance of that missing piece and to bring it back to affect positive change in the instructional practice for our students in West Springfield,” Richard said. “The ability for one person to dedicate his time to the daily instruction, assessment and curriculum work in our district is irreplaceable.”
Richard said Connor was a “perfect fit” for West Springfield.
“Tim’s got a vision for what curriculum should be, and it certainly aligns with mine,” he said. “He has vision, leadership experience, listening skills and he knows how to communicate effectively and in a timely fashion. All of those things are qualities we need in that position.”
Connor joins a changing West Springfield administration, which has had a new superintendent take charge in Richard and three new principals in recent months. These changes, Richard said, are designed to help push the district from Level 3 to Level 1.
“We suspect it’s in our not-so-distant future,” he said.