Photo by Cliff Buchan
St. Peter’s Elementary School Principal Mike Conway listens to a science unit report on volcanos from first-grade student Naomi Puyleart. Listening in is classmate Tyler Steinke, far right.
When the local parish priest calls, a good parishioner will listen.
Mike Conway took that to heart last summer when the Rev. Daniel Bodin of The Church of St. Peter in Forest Lake asked Conway if he would come out of retirement to serve as principal at St. Peter’s Elementary School.
How could he turn down his church, Conway thought to himself?
“It was like being called to the superintendent’s office,” he said.
After 40 years of work in the Forest Lake School District 831, Conway stepped away from his principalship at Wyoming Elementary School on June 30, 2013. He had enjoyed 14 months of retirement when Bodin beckoned him to visit.
Now Conway is back in the education saddle as the principal of the K-6 parochial elementary school. But it’s not a long-term gig.
Conway signed on for the 2014-2015 school year and will hand over the duties this summer to Jim Morehead, a Forest Lake resident who is leaving his job as principal at Saint Agnes School in St. Paul to take over at St. Peter’s.
Refreshing change
Conway, 63, found the return to the work world a refreshing change.
“I really missed it a lot,” Conway said of his work at Wyoming Elementary. “But I was getting used to retirement.”
Still, the call from the leadership at his home parish was too strong to reject. So, last Aug. 29, Conway was back to work.
“It’s great to work with kids again,” Conway said this week, walking the halls of St. Peter’s.
He is finding the inner workings of the Catholic school much the same as any public school.
“The kids are the same,” he said. “The parents are the same. The staff is the same.”
Since coming on board late last summer when former Principal Dan Hurley left for another job, Conway is reminded why he went into education in the first place.
“A school is just a great environment,” Conway said. “It’s a win-win situation.”
History repeats
Although Conway spent his 40-year education career in the public schools, he is a product of the Catholic education system.
He grew up in Maplewood and attended St. Jerome’s School in first through eighth grades before moving to Hill High School, where he graduated in 1969. His wife, Rose, graduated the same year from Archbishop Murray High School. (The schools have since merged to form a coed Hill-Murray High School).
After college, he landed in ISD 831 in 1973 and never left. He spent two years teaching at Scandia Elementary and followed with eight years at Columbus Elementary School before moving to Wyoming.
He was the teacher-principal at the old school in Wyoming and became principal when the current Wyoming Elementary opened in 1989. He led the opening of the Wyoming school and also helped open Columbus Elementary School a decade earlier.
Conway has been no stranger to the local parish. The family became members at St. Peter’s upon moving here in 1973. He has volunteered at the church in a number of capacities, including serving on the interview team for hiring school principals.
A big week
The final week of January was National Catholic Schools Week, and Conway and staff presided over a week of events.
Monday was red, white and blue day as students were allowed to skip school uniforms for patriotic attire and to listen to a guest speaker from the Minnesota Army National Guard.
The events of the week also included the school carnival on Friday. Conway’s office was packed with door prizes and silent auction items that helped raise money for the school’s mission.
Conway has spent the first five months on the job getting to know a whole batch of new students. The job is easier at St. Peter’s, where fewer than 300 kids are enrolled. At Wyoming, Conway at one time was the leader of a school that housed more than 800 kids.
Conway has found working at St. Peter’s as easy as stepping into a comfortable pair of slippers.
After 40 years of work in public education at one of the best elementary schools in the state, Conway said he expected no less at St. Peter’s.