The Superintendent. The person behind the principal. The brain of the school. Without them the school would fall into chaos. Not much is generally known about school superintendents. For this interview I decided to answer the question. I asked Superintendent Shine and here are his responses.

What is your name? Shannon Shine

How long have you been in your profession? Approximately 20 years with half of those years teaching and the other half in administration; the past five years in the superintendent position.

What did you do before you were superintendent? I’ve served as a building principal and summer school principal at all levels including the primary, intermediate, elementary, middle and high school levels.  I taught fourth, fifth and sixth grades and subbed prior to that at every grade level K – 12.

Who or what inspired you to do this job or any in the past? My family suggested that I would make a good teacher and I followed up to get my degrees and certifications and haven’t looked back since.

Favorite part about being superintendent? I think my favorite part of being a superintendent is that I can make some fundamental changes to the direction of a district for the betterment of students.  For example, we’ve been able to focus heavily on early literacy and, partially as a result of those efforts, the district has moved from the bottom third of all Capital Region districts academically to the top third overall.

On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate Galway School?

It depends upon what aspect I’m rating.  If you are looking for a holistic rating, we are a 9.5 out of 10.  Galway is a fantastic place for children to grow and learn and thrive.

What types of  punishments have you given out to students as superintendent?

I’ve actually had very few occasions to be punitive with students as you are all so darn well behaved.  Most students don’t realize this, but a building principal may suspend a student for up to five days at a time, while a superintendent can suspend students for up to 365 days at a time.  I’m very glad that I haven’t had to do that though.

Do you have any regrets on becoming a superintendent? Yes, specifically that I am out of the classroom on a daily basis.  I miss the closer interaction with students. I do have many occasions to visit classrooms though, so this helps.

Favorite song to listen to? I don’t have one favorite song.  Lately I’ve been listening to some acoustic guitar gospel music which seems like a mix between bluegrass and country.  “God on the Mountain” is one of those which I really like.

Favorite movie? I have a few ties for the title of my favorite movie.  “Miracle Maker” about Helen Keller and her teacher is one of them.  “The Shawshank Redemption” is another and “The Green Mile” is a third.  The original “Avengers” movie was very good too.

Favorite graduated class year and why? I think this would be around 20 years ago when I had my first classroom of fourth graders, so I guess it would be when they graduated into fifth grade.  I had a strong sense of accomplishment having met them where they were and having successfully brought them through the curricula to the finish line and promotion into 5th grade.