‘Live Well,’ Retiring Assistant Principal Advises

By Larissa Lytwyn

After serving Newtown Middle School for more than a decade as one of its two assistant principals, Dr Virginia King has retired. She will not have a successor. Due to the upcoming year’s constricted budget, the position will be cut, leaving Principal Diane Sherlock and Assistant Principal Kathy M. Boettner to manage Newtown Middle School’s ever-increasing number of students.

“I will miss my students and colleagues most,” Dr King said, “as well as many students’ families.”

Beginning this fall, she will begin a position at Western Connecticut State University supervising education majors as they embark on the student teaching component of their program.

A Barnard College graduate, Dr King gained broad teaching certification through the acquirement of a sixth year certificate from Southern Connecticut State University, a master of science degree in elementary education from Western Connecticut State University, and a doctorate of education from Columbia University.

After moving to Newtown in 1968, Dr King taught science at Newtown Middle School for 15 years before accepting a position as its science coordinator. Later, she became district health coordinator of Newtown public schools. In 1991, she began her tenure as one of Newtown Middle School’s assistant principals.

“Being a principal,” she said, “you constantly have to refocus.” Accountable for dozens of responsibilities each day, she explained, she quickly acquired the resilience necessary to manage the unexpected. “When you are walking down that hall,” she said with a chuckle, “you never know quite what can happen.”

In fact, Dr King’s administrative career itself was unexpected. “Originally I was going to go into medicine,” she said. After a brief stint in New Jersey’s pharmaceutical industry, however, Dr King began substitute teaching shortly after moving to Connecticut. “I found that I liked working with people more than animals!” she said with a laugh.

 Later, as an administrator, Dr King said she learned the importance of meeting a variety of needs, from students to teachers, on an equal level. She ardently adopted the educational philosophies of Dr William Glasser, a renowned Cleveland-born psychiatrist whose Choice Theory is based on the premise that behavior is chosen, and that we are driven to satisfy five basic needs: survival, love and belonging, power, freedom, and fun.

 “Newtown Middle School does not have detention halls,” said Dr King. Students are disciplined through their own accord — calling parents themselves to inform them of their misdeeds and handling conflict with peers through engaging in dialogue. “We have had a lot of positive feedback from parents regarding this approach,” she said.

 Each school in the Newtown education system is expected to adopt its own unique mission statement. “Our professional mission,” Dr King said, “is to build a school community that shares a common mission and works as a unified team to enhance opportunities for student growth. Remember, our whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” She also augmented a popular quote from Mark Twain to not only “live well, laugh often and love much,” but also to “learn continuously and leave a legacy.” She has the statements framed and once hung them on her office door.

 Dr King’s personal realization of this philosophy is evident in one of her many passions, ballroom dancing. “I became involved with it a few years ago,” she said. “I just fell in love with it!” While she has not competed professionally, Dr King has both attended and participated in several dance exhibitions. She also spent a few years offering dance lessons to faculty, of which, she said, a surprisingly high number accepted. “We had over 40 faculty members involved, at one point,” she said, smiling. In the past, Dr King has also extended dance lessons to students, having, at some points, as many as 80 children involved. “It’s just a wonderful activity,” she said. “It helps you stay fit, too.”

 While reiterating how much she will miss Newtown Middle School, Dr King said she is excited about her new opportunity at Western Connecticut State University. “I hope to help build a community there, as well,” she said. “I’m the kind of person who always has to stay active, have something to do. It’s good to change, to try something new!”