Southington's New School Administrators Settling In During Quiet Summer Months

Three Southington school administrators are settling into their new positions during these quiet months of summer vacation. 

Marilyn Kahl is the new principal of Kelly School. Though she is already familiar with the district from the previous two years, when she served as assistant principal of Derynoski Elementary School, Kahl said she is working on learning the ins and outs of her new building, according to the Record Journal. 

Since Kelly is a smaller school than Derynoski, Kahl said she is looking forward to the opportunity to really get to know the students and staff. She plans to do that by spending lots of time in the classrooms. 

Kahl was herself a classroom teacher in Cheshire, teaching fourth and fifth grade for 16 years before she came to Derynoski as an administrator. She was attracted then, she said, by the direction Superintendent Joseph Erardi was taking the district. 

Today, she still believes Southington is one of the state's best school systems. 

As Kahl settles into her new office, Kelly Nichols is making herself at home in the one Kahl left. 

Nichols, the new assistant principal at Derynoski Elementary School, was promoted from DePaolo Middle School, where she was District TEAM Learning Specialist in the school's special education department.

Nichols has said she feels that her new role is a kind of homecoming, since she was a member of of the first fifth-grade class to attend Derynoski when it opened as an elementary school in the 1970s.

Michael Halloran, new assistant principal at Southington High School, has been in education for 13 years. He came to the district from the CREC Polaris School in Hartford, where he was principal.

According to the Record Journal, Halloran will focus mostly on the sophomore class, world languages and special education.

All three live in Southington.