Andre Hauser excited to be Coginchaug High School principal
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Friday, July 23, 2010 - 10:05am
Andre Hauser is looking forward to Thursday, Sept. 2; the first day of school in Regional District 13. For the last seven years, he has been Coginchaug High School’s assistant principal, a role he says is largely about enforcing school policies. But when he walks through the doors this September as the high school’s new principal, it will be to do less enforcing and more teaching and learning, and he couldn’t be more excited.
The fact that Hauser is a high school principal would surprise his younger self. His undergraduate degrees from the University of North Carolina are in journalism and English. After graduating in the early ‘90s, he had his career sights set on reporting, and he “certainly never intended to be an educator.” But while he worked his first year as a general assignment reporter for The Tribune in North Carolina, a friend was running a diversionary program for youthful offenders.
“I just knew that everyone in it was a teenager, and that they had all been in some sort of minor trouble with the law,” said Hauser, who was already spending a lot of his time covering crimes and trials, often involving kids who were barely literate. “I had so much fun whenever I worked with the kids in my friend’s program that I knew I was supposed to do something with teenagers for my career,” he said.
So it was back to school to complete the necessary education courses, but not without first having spent a year traveling and hiking the Appalachian Trail alone, a longtime dream. “I was between careers at that time, and I realized that if I didn’t do it then, I probably wouldn’t do it at all,” he said.
In 1995, with new teaching and educational administration credentials, Hauser worked in Bethel, CT, Palmer, MA and Enfield, CT school systems. In 2003 he took the job as assistant principal at Coginchaug. Not only did it end up being the longest he’d ever stayed at one job, but it taught him how schools operate and how kids think.
“Every day is a learning experience when you’re assistant principal, and you’re hanging out with 600 kids,” said Hauser.
Initially, Hauser took the job thinking it would be a three- or four-year stint and then he would look for a principal position. He ended up liking the district so much that he stayed. It paid off in 2008 when Hauser was named Connecticut Assistant Principal of the Year. It paid off again earlier this year when former CRHS principal Steve Wysowski announced he was leaving at the end of the school year to take a job in another school system. It was Hauser’s time to shine.
This summer, he is already working hard at his first major tasks as principal: redesigning homeroom and the school website, overseeing completion of the athletic facility and hiring an assistant principal.
Hauser has some ideas on how to make homeroom more effective and enjoyable for the students, but he is interested in hearing if the community has ideas on improving homeroom. How long should it be? What time of day should it be? What types of things should each grade be doing during homeroom? If you have suggestions, he asks that you email ahauser@rsd13.org.
Some of Hauser’s plans to draw more visitors and generate better communication on the website include pictures of students and timely postings of sports scores.
He’s also helping in the organization of sports, physical education classes and parking around the athletic facility project that is now well underway and will hopefully be completed by mid-November. Each morning on his ride in, Hauser drives to the far side of the school to watch the progress being made on the track and field. He loves seeing it come together.
As for the assistant principal search, Hauser was blown away by the number of applicants from around the country – over 80 in total. This week the semi-finalists are being interviewed in hopes of being ready for the school year.
There’s lots to be done, but Hauser is up for the challenge. In fact, he says there’s a few things every day that cause him to exclaim, “Aha! I get to do that now that I’m principal!” Case in point: accompany the seniors on the Washington, D.C. trip, which he’s been dying to do the last seven years.
In the meantime, Hauser has switched offices, setting the “Darth Tator” Mr. Potato Head and Curious George toys from his sons, Sam, 8, and Alex, 6, on his new desk.
“If you look closely, there’s lots of toys hidden around this office,” Hauser said, “but it still needs to be organized before the start of school.” Just maybe, there will time for that in his busy new schedule.
