Mr. Skidmore, Arlington High School principal, retires

Principal Charles Skidmore addressed the overflowing auditorium Sunday from a podium, looking out at the 2011 graduates in a black cap and gown, a maroon and gray hood tapered over his shoulders.

This was his seventh commencement speech for a . But this time the graduates weren’t the only ones about to start a new adventure outside the confines of the high school.

After seven years at the helm of Arlington High School, Skidmore, 57, is , and Assistant Principal Mary Villano will takeover for the 2011-2012 school year.

Described by many as a sincere and compassionate leader and role model for the school and community, “Mr. Skidmore” was a principal who strived for personal connections with students, staff and parents, those who worked with him said. He attended games and performances, wrote personalized letters to students and even taught a beginner Spanish class despite his leadership role.

But as Skidmore spoke to the class of 2011, flanked by silver balloons marking the year, he offered them some unexpected advice. “Don’t be a hero,” he told the 296 graduates, recalling his own father’s advice growing up. Advice he said baffled him until the day before his own high school graduation when two men armed with rifles robbed the supermarket where he was working.

To many, though, Skidmore was exactly that.

“Every day of the past seven years Mr. Skidmore has completely immersed and dedicated himself to one primary goal: making a difference in the lives of every AHS student,” Dean Robert DiLoreto said in an introduction at the ceremony. “And yes, Mr. Skidmore, you have made a difference.”

Major moments

Before arriving at AHS, Skidmore worked as a principal, assistant principal and teacher during a 20-year stint at Brighton High School. In 2004, a friend living in Arlington told him about an opening at AHS for principal, and Skidmore applied.

“Knowing it was an open field, I thought, ‘Well, I have a chance at this,’” he said.

He was offered the job, and soon after started working to change what Skidmore said he perceived as an unbalanced academic environment in which the top 20 or 30 percent of the student body received a better education than the majority.

In this regard, the academics have “definitely” improved over the past seven years under his reign, Skidmore said. So much so that the U.S. News and World Report named AHS a Silver Medal school in 2007 and 2009, recognition that a high school serves all its “students well, not just those who are college-bound,” according to the rankings.

And Collegeboard also recognized the school as one of 388 that increased the number of Advanced Placement exams and students receiving a score above a 3.

The school also received national recognition for less desirable reasons last year, when the school committee voted to bring back the daily recital of the Pledge of Allegiance after a junior proposed the change. The decision received airtime on Fox News, which portrayed the school as not permitting the recital.

Skidmore said once it was clear what the community wanted, they started the daily recital as soon as possible. He said he thinks it became so controversial because the decision came at the end of the year, so they couldn’t immediately start reciting the pledge.

“It has become part of our school,” he said.

Though the school received various other academic recognitions during Skidmore’s time as principal, it was the hockey team breaking the school record for the longest game that stuck with him most, he said.

“It’s the kind of thing that you love, you want your team to win, but you’re also like, ‘I want to go home,” Skidmore said with a laugh.

Connecting with the students

Outside the school’s smaller auditorium, teachers, staff and students rushed by in the type of preparation chaos unique to a graduation ceremony. An older woman needed a ticket for herself and husband. A student forgot something at the last minute and her parent ran in to give it to her. But most importantly, everyone needed to find his or her place in line.

“Mr. Skidmore!” one student called out from a group as the principal was passing by him. Skidmore greeted him with a wave and smile of recognition as he hurried on.

This rapport with the student body was what many students said they liked best about him.

“I was really happy with his presence here because he treated a lot of the kids like adults,” soon-to-be AHS alumnus Jesse Weiss said, his dark curly hair partially covered by a graduation cap.

At a retirement party for the principal a few days earlier outside the high school, many students walked around wearing t-shirts that featured a portrait of Skidmore in red, white and blue, a similar design to the iconic graphic of President Barack Obama by Shepard Fairey.

Along with the t-shirts, community members and the Arlington Education Foundation were selling soft-cover collections of speeches and letters by Skidmore at the party, with proceeds to benefit the , or “Learning Commons,” at the high school in Skidmore’s name.

“I think what I liked most about him was that he was really down to earth. He knew just about all of the students,” graduating senior Kelsey O’Leary said, a newly purchased book in hand. “He just understood us.”

O’Leary, who was involved in the musicals, said each cast member would receive a personalized letter from the principal.

“That was really meaningful,” she said. “I’ve kept all of my letters.”

The importance of the “larger whole”

Without missing a beat, Skidmore said his staff was one of the best things about coming to work each day.

“The teachers are ready to work, open to new ideas, excited about teaching,” he said, standing on the sidewalk at his retirement party as guests greeted him.

Throughout his time as principal, Skidmore was also one of those teachers, students and staff said. As a Spanish I teacher, he encouraged students academically both inside and outside his own classroom.

“If I saw a kid who had really improved on a report card, I’d write them a note,” he said. “You didn’t need to tell the kids who got all As, but a kid who went from Cs and Ds, to Bs and A-s—I wanted that kid to know someone saw that.”

Teachers said they also valued his interactive and personalized approach. English teacher Justin Bourassa, who was elected by the students to be the , said he would always remember the first time he met Mr. Skidmore during his job interview.

“It seemed so quick, but he held onto all the information that I gave him, and to this day he could probably recall exactly what we discussed,” Bourassa said after the ceremony. “That’s one of the things he does best. He really holds on to the things about every member of the community, and he doesn’t forget.”

Moving on, but not too far away

Though both Skidmore and the class of 2011 will move on from the red brick building with the tall white arches, in certain ways, neither he nor the students will be all that far away.

As a resident of Cambridge, Mr. Skidmore won’t be far away physically. Personally, he plans to stay involved in the school and community, such as helping oversee the “Learning Commons” project and singing at the celebration for 100th anniversary of City Hall.

Wrapping up his last commencement speech at AHS on Sunday, Skidmore explained his interpretation of his father’s advice.

“Don’t be a hero by taking unnecessary risks,” he said, in an even-toned and fatherly voice. “Or spending money you don’t have. Or doing outrageous things to impress people, like lying, or overextending yourself, or being funny at somebody else’s expense, or overindulging in drugs or alcohol.”

“Instead,” Skidmore concluded, “I dare you to be heroic.”