Q&A: Pat Walling On Leaving Havre de Grace

I had the chance to speak with the day after it became public that she would be leaving for the principal's position at John Archer.

, a former Havre de Grace High assistant principal and a current assistant principal at Bel Air.

Here's a portion of our conversation: 

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Patch: This is your sixth graduation at . What will you take away from this senior class?

Walling: “This one will be special because it’s my last. But over time you get to know kids, and I’ve had other graduating classes I’ve known. But there are some really talented kids in this class that have really grown and matured. Overall we have a really great graduating class and there are kids who worked really hard to be at the top of the heap or who have worked really hard to get through.” 

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Patch: You have a background in special education—the transition to John Archer seems like a logical one.

Walling: “My background is in special education, and I’ve had the opportunity to work at John Archer before on the faculty. I’m very excited to go back and serve with that population and work with that community of parents and faculty and kids. It’s exciting. It’s always been a passion of mine. I’ve spent a lot of my time working with kids of a variety of disabilities. I think it will be a challenge for me, but I’m really looking forward to the challenge. It’ll be great. I get a whole new set of colleagues. I’ll be working with elementary principals.” 

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Patch: Can you talk about the wide variety of duties you’ll be handling?

Walling: “It actually goes birth to 21. Under the umbrella of John Archer is the infants and toddler program, the Future Link program, where our kids who leave here successfully at 19 can go to the Future Link program until they’re 21. Also all the itinerant services are there, occupational therapy, physical therapy, hearing, speech, adaptive education, assistive technology. I’ve been a part of all of those, and I’m excited to get back to that model. I’m very excited.” 

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Patch: What do you take away from Havre de Grace?

Walling: “Gosh. I take away, just the strength of this community and what a wonderful community it is. I say that birth to death. I think everybody is committed to Havre de Grace, families are committed to kids, families are committed to each other. I think there is a strong bond within this community that people don’t want to break. I think that’s important. You’re here, you’re back. What I hope my leadership will facilitate in future growth: that our kids will leave here with the skills to go onto post secondary education and come back to serve our community. Whether it’s as an environmental engineer, or whether it’s in the medical field. We have so many resources here in this community where our kids can come back and serve.” 

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Patch: It seems, with BRAC and surrounding developments, that there are only more opportunities available.

Walling: “We have the NIMS grant coming in. We’re doing AVID, so that’s going to help a lot more kids achieve at another level. I’m excited about that.”

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Patch: From the administrator’s perspective, what challenges do you face with the current facility?

Walling: “I’ve been very open about it: safety and security. First and foremost, we look at a secure, safe environment for our students. The configuration of both buildings, it’s not a matter of whether its two buildings or one building, because there is a lot of uniqueness to the campus. However, the design of [the academic building] and [the gym and music] building—neither lend themselves to my feeling comfortable that we have the optimal, safety and security. This office and the front office are so sheltered from the front door, so we have no idea who comes and goes. That’s the biggest piece. The kids are great. They accommodate to the smaller hall sizes. We never go to the point where I thought we needed an up stairwell and a down stairwell. The kids manage it well. Again, that’s a safety and security issue. Every day it’s crowd control between classes. You just want to make sure you’re doing whatever it takes for the kids to be safe and secure in the best learning environment.”

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Patch: Anything you’d like to add?

Walling: “It’s been an honor to be a part of the Havre de Grace community. I wish Mr. Reynolds well. I know he’s a part of the community. When you leave a place, you always wonder about what’s coming next, and I am so confident that Mr. Reynolds will do a good job that I don’t mind leaving.”

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's graduation is set for June 7.

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