Schools

New Middle School Assistant Principal Makes Big Transition

A guidance counselor in the Fort Lee School District since 2005, Lauren Glynn is now second in command at Lewis F. Cole

Lauren Glynn is the new assistant principal at Lewis F. Cole Middle School, but she’s far from new to the school district. The Rockland County native, who graduated from SUNY Oswego before receiving her Masters in School Counseling from Long Island University (Rockland campus) and her Administrative Certificate from SUNY New Paltz, is starting her seventh school year in Fort Lee.

Glynn started at the middle school as a guidance counselor in 2005.

“I was in this building for a few years, and then I moved up to the high school,” she said. “I was up there for two years, and then I came back here. So I’ve been here before. I know most of the staff. There are only a few new people that came in while I was gone.”

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Glynn was kind enough to sit down with Patch on just the second day of school to be our first interviewee for “Fort Lee Schools One-On-One,” a new column in which we will feature a school district employee to get an insider’s look at what’s happening in our schools.

Here’s how the interview with Glynn went:

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Tell us about the new job

Right now I’m second in command in the building. Kids just started yesterday so I really haven’t had too many dealings with discipline, but that’s going to be a major portion of my job. Also observing the staff—I’ll be responsible for their observations, and pretty much just the day-to-day activities in the school. I’ve been in the hallways pretty much every period, making sure everything runs smoothly, and the cafeteria, making sure there are no problems in there. Just overseeing all the day-to-day activities in the building.

What originally brought you to the Fort Lee School District?

My mother [Delia Brennan] taught in this district. I was working in a private school—Paramus Catholic—for a few years as a guidance counselor, and I was putting resumes out. Rosemary [Giacomelli] had called me for an interview without even discussing it with my mother. But she called me in, and I ended up here. I always knew about the district because my mother had been here since she was 21 years old. She started in 1972 and retired a couple years ago as special education teacher. Right from the minute she got out of college until she retired, she was in this district.

Who or what was it that inspired you to become involved in education?

My fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Wilkes. She was just so enthusiastic. I always kind of knew I wanted to be involved in the school system, but I didn’t necessarily know if teaching was exactly what I wanted to do. I kind of liked more one-on-one. And she eventually became a guidance counselor. So I kind of feel like I followed in her footsteps, and I went right into the guidance counseling so I could have that interaction. From there I felt—as a guidance counselor—I interacted so much with the assistant principal and principal in working together on so many projects that I thought, why not go for that?

What’s your educational philosophy or how do you approach education?

I just think that no student should be ignored—that we have to make sure that we pay attention to all the needs of the students. It can be difficult at times, but we just have to be aware of what’s going on if you notice a student that’s not paying attention or not really getting what everyone else is that we address that so we can bring them in to where everyone else is.

What is something that most people don’t know about you or would be surprised to learn?

I love to eat. I’m a foodie, but everyone knows that about me. I guess that I have a love for music and live concerts. I love to go and see as many concerts as possible, and my range of music is just bizarre.

Mention a few ...

Well, Pat Benatar. I’m completely obsessed with her even though I’m probably her only fan. Bon Jovi, Mary J. Blige, Elton John, I kind of go all over the spectrum, and I’ve seen them all.

Name three people—living or dead—you would invite to dinner

I’d say Pat Benatar, Oprah and Bill Clinton.

Talk a little about making the transition from guidance counselor to administrator, and what challenges do you think you’ll face?

I don’t think there are going to be too many challenges, really, just the amount of time that has to go into the job as an administrator. It’s just kind of managing that, and it’s working so far, but it’s long hours. I’m definitely spending a lot more time at work and a lot more time working. It’s getting used to balancing my personal time too because I haven’t had much of that lately. But I think it will all work out now that school has begun. It was just more of the preparation period that was busy.

What’s the highlight of your school year so far/Or since it just started yesterday, what’s a recent highlight?

Since I’ve been in the district it’s really nice to just see some of the students now have some of their siblings come up. I had a kid that graduated last year whose little brother is now in seventh grade. So that’s kind of cool to see the personalities. But another thing is just walking down the hall today [Wednesday, Sept. 7] just to see how all the classrooms are just moving already. It’s day two, and the teachers are on, and the kids were sitting in their classes. I’m hoping that’s the way the rest of the year goes, but it was just a great thing. I walked down the whole hall of classes, and there was not one class that didn’t just have it going. They knew what they were doing, and everything was flowing.


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