Riverhills Elementary Welcomes Todd Connolly As New Principal

Todd Connolly said he is ready to put  back on track.

The Jonesville, MI, native and Tampa resident is the new principal of the school, and he said he is committed to improving everything, including the failing grade Riverhills received earlier this year.

“Despite the letter grade the school received from the state this past year, I want the community to know that Riverhills is a great school, and the staff and I are committed to making it the best school in Hillsborough County,” he said. “I invite the community to stop in and check out the great things that are happening with teaching and learning at Riverhills this year.”

Connolly said he understands exactly what it takes to be a principal. He has 16 years of education experience, and last year, he was the principal of Metropolitan Partnership Schools in Hillsborough County. He received his bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Western Michigan University and his master’s degree in educational leadership from Nova Southeastern University.

Not only did he say he wants to be instrumental in the success of his students, but he also said he wants to turn his focus toward his staff.

“What I like most about being an elementary school principal is having the opportunity to not only work with students in helping them to become successful, lifelong learners, but I also enjoy working with my faculty in helping them to develop and fine tune their teaching practices,” Connolly said. “It is my responsibility as the instructional leader of Riverhills Elementary School to make sure our teachers are well trained and versed on the most up-to-date instructional practices in order to meet the varied needs of our student population.”

According to Connolly, he was able to bring his staff in three days prior to any other school in the county so that they could implement a mission for the school and train the staff on certain points, such as creating a classroom environment that specializes in math instruction, staff development and support, and team building activities for the staff.

During training, the teachers also looked at individual teacher and grade level data to help them get a better idea of plans for individualized instruction.

“Teachers identified trends and looked for areas in which they need further staff development and support to meet the various academic needs of the students in their classrooms,” Connolly said.

He said he wants to closely monitor student attendance. According to Connolly, the 2010-11 academic year showed that instructional time was lost at Riverhills because of significant student absences.

Connolly even hired a parent involvement liaison to assist with this objective.

“My goal is to significantly reduce tardies and absenteeism this year by educating our parents on the negative impact high absenteeism has on student performance,” he said.

Connolly said he also wants to reassure parents.

"Anyone who sends their children to Riverhills Elementary can be confident that they will receive the best education possible," he said.