Manchester High Has a New Interim Principal

A month after placing Manchester High School Principal Kevin O’Donnell on , Superintendent of Schools Kathleen Ouellette named his interim replacement Monday.

Ouellette has tapped Gregory Ziogas, a veteran educator and administrator who spent 40 years with the Plainville School District working as a teacher, athletic director and principal, to run the high school through the end of the current school year in late June. Ziogas, 62, a Bristol resident, was announced as the high’s school’s new interim principal during a series of assemblies Monday morning and spent the day getting acclimated to the school and his new duties.

Ouellette said that the Connecticut Association of Schools recommended Ziogas and that he would only be filling the role of principal at the high school through the end of the current school year. She said having Ziogas in place would, after a brief transition period, allow her to return full-time to her duties as superintendent, including beginning a search for a permanent hire to serve as principal  of Manchester High School. Ouellette has been overseeing the day-to-day operations of the high school since she placed O’Donnell on leave Jan. 7.

“It was an interim search. It’s not the permanent search,” Ouellette said Monday. “We knew that in order to do a real big global search perhaps it would be best to fill this position through the end of the year.”

Although Ouellette has not publicly stated why she placed O’Donnell on leave, it is widely believed to be tied to several disciplinary offenses at the high school. When asked, Ouellette has repeatedly stated that O’Donnell “probably won’t be returning” as principal. O'Donnell has served as principal of the high school since August of 2007 and earns an $138,778 annual salary, which he is still receiving while on leave. He has a contract with the school system through June 30, 2011. 

Ziogas, who also served as an interim athletic director for the South Windsor Public Schools, will be paid a per diem of $630.81 per school day and will not receive benefits through the school system. Roughly calculated, for the 90 or so school days remaining, Ziogas should earn about $57,000 in salary from the school system. His daily per diem works out to the exact same figure that O’Donnell would receive for each of the 220 school days his contract with the school system stipulates he would work.

Ziogas, who only retired from the Plainville school district last year, said he was “anxious” and “excited” to get to work at the high school, and had not followed the associated with the high school in recent months.

“It was a short retirement, but I’m reenergized. I’m a young 62,” Ziogas said. “I’m really anxious to get going here and get my feet wet and get involved with these kids. I think they’re a great group of kids.”

Board of Education Chairman Chris Pattacini said that Ouellette kept the school board posted throughout the search process, but that the decision to hire Ziogas was Ouellette’s.

“The board was provided updates along the way on the status of the hire,” Pattacini said. “But usually for an interim principal the superintendent is trying to move quickly to get someone in.”

Stephen Gates, president of the Manchester PTSA, said he had met with Ziogas briefly Monday morning and that the PTSA was optimistic about working with him through the end of the current school year.

“This is an important next step in the process of reestablishing confidence in the leadership at MHS,” Gates said by email Monday. “It's important that we continue the positive momentum of the last two months. The PTSA is certainly ready to partner with Principal Ziogas to establish effective lines of communications with parents and the community. Longer term, we still need to solve the leadership void.”  

Pattacini said he was pleased that with Ziogas now in place, Ouellette could return to her full-time duties as superintendent.

“I’m hopeful that the superintendent will be able to refocus her efforts back on the school district as a whole,” Pattacini said. “She’s done a good job trying to balance the two, but obviously with one person it’s difficult to do two jobs. It’s good to have her back.”

O'Donnell filed a grievance through the administrators' union contesting his forced leave shortly after he was placed on it, but Ouellette dismissed the grievance Jan. 13. O'Donnell has not appealed to the Board of Education.