Newstrack: O’Malley nears end of second year in Mount Vernon

Background

Gary O'Malley spent four years as an administrator in the Cedar Rapids Community School District, overseeing and eventually hiring middle school and high school principals. While O'Malley was in Cedar Rapids, the district expanded programs for English language learners and eighth-grade students interested in taking high-school classes.

O'Malley left Cedar Rapids in 2013 to become superintendent of the Mount Vernon Community School District.

What's happened since?

CEDAR RAPIDS - Gary O'Malley walks to school every day and waves at passing cars and pedestrians in his new hometown.

O'Malley, the former Cedar Rapids school administrator now in his second year as the Mount Vernon Community School District superintendent, said Mount Vernon is 'a good match” for him.

'Thirty-three schools was a job,” he said of Cedar Rapids. 'Three schools now is just so much more of an opportunity to get into classrooms, to get into schools and to try to be a part of something important.”

O'Malley, 62, spent four years in the Cedar Rapids Community School District as associate superintendent and then deputy superintendent before coming to Mount Vernon.

In those roles, he oversaw middle-school and high-school principals and later was put in charge of hiring those positions.

Some of the district's newest principals - including Jason Kline at Kennedy High School, Steve Goodall at McKinley Middle School, Autumn Pino at Roosevelt Middle School and Andrew Eley at Wilson Middle School - were hired by O'Malley.

David Benson, the Cedar Rapids superintendent, is a mentor and friend, O'Malley said.

O'Malley said programs in Cedar Rapids schools that allow eighth-graders to take high school classes and provide more services for English language learners are among the high points of his time there.

'Both are examples of the innovation of the Cedar Rapids school district to reach out to underserved areas - to kids that didn't have as many opportunities across the district and now do,” he said.

In Mount Vernon, O'Malley has brought some of those same ideas. He said he has thought about giving students more flexibility with taking courses ahead of schedule.

'If that means college course or high school courses, it should never be based on chronological age,” O'Malley said. 'It should be based on interest, aptitude (and) work ethic.”

Mount Vernon schools also have partnered with Cornell College to build a baseball field and created a January term in which high school students can take two courses over 12 days, O'Malley said.

A new high school auditorium and athletic complex could be in the district's future, as well, O'Malley said.