In the News

Meriden’s Edison Middle School hires new assistant principal

September 10th, 2014

Megan O’Neill, the new assistant principal at Thomas Edison Middle School in Meriden, Monday, September 8, 2014. O’Neill, a 31-year-old Milford native, was hired to fill the position over the summer, and started just before students returned at the end of August. | Dave Zajac / Record-Journal

MERIDEN — Megan O’Neill spent the first nine years of her teaching career at a New Haven elementary school and while she enjoyed it, the position she was recently offered in Meriden was an opportunity she could not pass up.

“I was looking for the opportunity to grow and change myself, and Meriden offered that different opportunity for me,” said O’Neill, a Milford native.

O’Neill, 31, was hired as the new assistant principal at Edison Middle School over the summer. She started in her new job in late August and said it has been a smooth transition.Plus, she added, “being an assistant principal is still a chance to teach, and I’m looking forward to working more closely with teachers and parents.” “It’s been great so far,” O’Neill said, Monday.

Before accepting the job at the magnet middle school, O’Neill taught first grade at Hill-Central School in New Haven. She earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary and early childhood education from the University of Scranton, as well as a master’s degree in reading and a sixth-year diploma in educational leadership from Southern Connecticut State University.

At Hill-Central School, O’Neill said she relished the chances she had to teach something new to students.

“Helping kids learn something they didn’t know before, seeing someone change, those were the highlights for me,” O’Neill said.

The move from elementary school teacher to middle school assistant principal has been seamless, Principal Karen Habegger said.

“She fits in great,” Habegger said. “She jumped right into everything we’re trying to accomplish in such a short period of time.”

Edison is run by Area Cooperative Educational Services, an organization that provides schools with programs and services in south-central Connecticut.

An inter-district magnet school, Edison draws students from Meriden, Wallingford, Middletown, and Regional School District 13, which includes Durham and Middlefield.

Students from Hamden, New Britain, Waterbury, Naugatuck and North Haven are also enrolled through the magnet school parent choice program.

Habegger said that close to 300 people applied for O’Neill’s position, and the screening process took roughly three weeks.

Her annual salary at Edison is $105,781.

In a written announcement, ACES Executive Director Thomas M. Danehy said, “Megan brings great energy, enthusiasm, and experience to Thomas Edison Middle School. We are confident that she’ll be an asset to Thomas Edison Middle School as well as to ACES.”

O’Neill said, “I’m looking forward to a great year.”

Meriden Record-Journal