Riley O’Malley was hired as a new assistant principal at Howard L. Goff Middle School earlier this summer. Mr. O’Malley will oversee 7th grade as he joins Interim Principal James McHugh and Assistant Principals Michael Neumann and Sarah Hoffman on the school’s administrative team.
Mr. O’Malley comes to East Greenbush from HFM BOCES where he served as assistant principal for its Career and Technical Education program that served 600 students. He started his career as a Social Studies teacher in Granville, and also taught in Gloversville and Lansingburgh.
We sat down with Mr. O’Malley last week to discuss his new role and responsibilities at Goff.
Q: How is the job going so far?
A: It’s great. We’re working on student scheduling and conducting some interviews for positions that need to be filled – so I’ve been working closely with Jim, Mike and Sarah.
Q: What are your duties as assistant principal?
A: My role will primarily be as the point person to offer support to both our 7th grade students and staff, as well as communicating with families. In addition, I will collaborate with the administrative team on student scheduling, discipline, classroom observations, assessments and school initiatives.
Q: Why did you want this position?
A: Coming from a BOCES, you’re not embedded in a community. I worked with 11 different school districts, which was great, but I really wanted to be a part of a community again and really get to see the kids through their whole educational process with extracurricular activities, sports and such.
Q: How has your teaching and administrative experience helped prepare you for this role?
A: My time teaching was spent in 9th grade so just a couple of years past the students who I’ll be working with as the 7th grade assistant principal. And in my previous administrative role, I worked with students on positive behavior, engaging with our families and community partners to support our students and their learning.
Q: What are you most looking forward to this school year?
A: Getting to know the kids, the staff and the community as a whole. I live right down the road in Troy, which is where I grew up, and have heard really positive things about East Greenbush. I’m really looking forward to starting the school year.