Vice Principal: My Office Doesn't Have to be a Scary Place

Students at who were used to seeing Kathy Cutrona in a sixth grade social studies classroom have had to adjust to seeing her in the front office now. Cutrona is deep into her first year as a vice principal at the middle school.

Cutrona didn’t start her career in education with a mind toward going into administration, having been a history teacher for the first 11 years of her career.

“I always loved history,” Cutrona said. “We always took vacations to historical places when I was a kid, and I took as many history courses as I could in high school. I even took two AP classes in one year.”

The change came gradually, starting when middle school principal Jeanne Howe asked Cutrona to apply for a team coordinator position, which involves heading up a middle school teaching team.

“At about the same time, I had started working on my masters degree in Social Sciences and anthropology,” Cutrona said. “But the program I was in was dropped, and I decided to go into administration.

“I thought about this for about 18 months, but I started taking on leadership rols here at school, especially with the Goals 2015 program.”

Cutrona finished her studies at Thomas Edison State College, and did the state-required 300 internship hours under Howe and middle school vice principal Peggy Widgren.

One thing that Cutrona has had to give up as a result of her new position is coaching track. She had been the boys head track coach for the past eight years.

“I miss track. It’s been a huge part of my life as a runner and a coach for many years. But I need to do a good job in this position. It’s hard to make time for both, as track practices are right after school, and there’s still a lot going on here right after school ends,” she said.

When it comes to changing how she deals with students, however, Cutrona doesn’t plan to change very much.

“I had a discipline approach in place in the classroom, and I’d like to use the same thing in this office,” she said. “I want the students to understand why they are here to see me. I think understanding it makes it less scary. This office doesn’t have to be a scary place.”

While she may no longer be in the classroom on a full-time basis, Cutrona won’t leave it completely.

“I want to be involved in what the students are doing. I want to be able to pop into classrooms, talk to the students and see what’s going on.”