MAPLEWOOD/SOUTN ORANGE, NJ — Joining a growing list of administrators leaving the district, Clinton Elementary School Principal Patricia O’Neill announced earlier this month that she is resigning her post.
O’Neill told the News-Record via email last week that she was leaving due to “personal reasons.”
“For me, spending more time with those I love especially now is a priority and the catalyst for my decision,” O’Neill said.
To further explain her decision to leave Clinton, O’Neill quoted Harvard professor and physician Dr. Anthony Komaroff, who said: “For me, happiness has always boiled down to four things. First is productivity at a task that I think helps others — things I can count and that I am responsible for.
The other three: learning more about the things that interest me most, having fun and spending time with those I love. Each of these things takes time. Therefore they all compete for that time. I think it’s fair to say that, for me, ‘productivity’ has won the contest during most of my career. Recently, however, I decided to give more time to the other three.”
O’Neill has been part of the SOMSD for nearly 20 years, teaching at the elementary school level from September 1997 through June 2002, teaching at the middle school level from September 2002 through June 2007, and then serving as Clinton principal from July 2007 to the present.
Before that, O’Neill attended Columbia High School as a student, graduating as senior class president.
O’Neill’s last day at Clinton will be Jan. 31, 2016.
According to Suzanne Turner, the district’s director of strategic communications, the district has already posted the principal’s job; the deadline for applications was Oct. 19.
“There is a wealth of talent both within and outside the district and we expect to find a worthy successor to build upon the wonderful work Ms. O’Neill has done during her tenure at Clinton School,” Turner told the News-Record last week via email.
When asked what she would miss most about Clinton, O’Neill said: “Everything.”
“I am honored and so proud to have worked with such an amazingly talented and dedicated community of teachers, staff members, family members and administrative colleagues,” O’Neill wrote in an Oct. 2 letter to Superintendent of Schools John Ramos. “My hope is that our vision will continue and our community members will always remain cohesive, vibrant and dedicated to our Clinton kids and each other.”
The past year has seen much change in the South Orange-Maplewood School District’s administration, and replacing administrators has become routine in the SOMSD, as six schools have changed principals in the past two years. Clinton joins CHS, Maplewood and South Orange middle schools, and Jefferson and South Mountain elementary schools in needing to replace a principal. Also, the district has been helmed by three superintendents in the past two years: former Superintendent Brian Osborne, acting Superintendent James Memoli and now Ramos.