Art O'Donnell of Ridgewood High was more often than not out of his office - at games, in the halls, sitting on benches or talking to students.
By REBECCA CATALANELLO
Published May 26, 2003
[Times photo: Lance Rothstein]
Art O'Donnell jokes with a staff member during preparations for graduation.
NEW PORT RICHEY - They shuffled past him as they have about this time every year for the past 35 years. Their feet scraped against the covered gym floor. A recording of Pomp and Circumstance blared over the PA system.
Retiring Ridgewood High principal Art O'Donnell presided over one of his last graduation practices from a side seat in the bleachers Tuesday, every once in a while offering a dry anecdote about one of the 353 seniors expecting to shake his hand Friday night.
There was the kid who was constantly having his ball caps confiscated, the boy who earned the nickname "AWOL" his first year because of his once-scant attendance record, the straight-arrow student who was accepted into a prestigious military academy.
But for every three students whose stories O'Donnell knew, there was about one he didn't know, he said - the price of running a school that's topped about 1,800 teens.
"I don't know how you could survive without a sense of humor," the 57-year-old New Jersey native said, watching his last batch of seniors prepare for life outside of Rams' blue and orange.
In 30-plus years as a Pasco County school administrator, O'Donnell has confronted gangs at Hudson High School and student deaths at Ridgewood. His desk has held everything from an empty bottle of vodka confiscated from drunken teens to empty picture frames awaiting the portraits of class valedictorians.
In a community that has seen plenty of changes since 1968 - the year the 22-year-old actuary-turned-teacher was hired by phone to fill a math instruction position at Gulf Middle School - O'Donnell, known as "Dr. O" to staff and students, has become a constant. Despite his hopes that no one would notice he was leaving, his teachers and students have honored him with roasts, parties and a surprise convocation in his honor.
"The man's been basically an institution for 30 years now," said Declan Mansfield, local attorney and parent of two at Ridgewood. "Any time you lose someone like that, it's hard."
O'Donnell has been expecting to retire since signing up for the state's early retirement program five years ago. But now that the time to leave has come, he said, he's about as nervous about life outside the principal's office as he was when he packed his things to move to Florida to work for a school he'd never set foot in.
Now white-haired, O'Donnell's one of those principals, students say, who shows up. He may not be in the office all the time, but that's because he's at games, in the halls, sitting on benches or talking to students.
"He's not into all the pomp and circumstance," said Ridgewood English teacher Virginia Siplack, who credited O'Donnell with being the best administrator she's had.
Faculty members said he has a way of motivating his staff without lording over them. He has a laid-back manner that sparks jokes and reveals compassion in even some of the most devastating professional circumstances his faculty members have encountered.
And O'Donnell's schools have faced their share of difficulties.
In two school years alone, Ridgewood students and faculty found themselves facing four high-profile deaths in the school community.
Assistant principal William Hulton died of a heart attack in 1999. Student Teddy Niziol was accidentally shot to death on campus a few months later in 2000. Another teen, Eric Przybyszewski, died after overdosing on the drug ecstasy in 2001-02. And a few months later, 16-year-old student athlete Ashley Morrison died with encephalitis.
"You just go on," O'Donnell said, reflecting on that period. "You think about things a lot."
Kathy Rulison, assistant principal at Hudson High who worked with O'Donnell for each of his 17 years there, said O'Donnell's stubborn insistence to look for the best in students shaped how she views her role as a disciplinarian.
"I think Dr. O told me a long time ago that, no matter what, there's always good in a child, and you have to try to get at that," she said.
Like most principals, this father of four has not escaped the teasing that comes from being the guy in charge of hundreds of teenagers and their teachers.
A legendary story puts O'Donnell - then a zealous first-year principal - in the woods, leading his Hudson High assistant principals on a hunt for skipping students.
"He doesn't know directions, I can tell you that!" Rulison said. O'Donnell, the tale goes, led his staff into a cow pasture and, three hours later, police showed up to escort the lost and disoriented group back to school.
Senior class President Chase DeCubellis, 18, said Dr. O is easy to talk to, open about ideas. But, he said, he's got a way about him: "a cocky swagger and always has a face to make at you.
"Cocky-good," he clarified.
As Randy Koenigsfeld, current principal at Schwettman Education Center, takes the helm of Ridgewood in the coming months, O'Donnell said he'll be positioning himself at the beck and call of his wife of 31 years, Renee.
"She can hardly wait," O"Donnell said. "As a principal, you spend a lot of nights away. She's essentially had to do everything."
O'Donnell likes to read and spend time with his family. Though everyone has been encouraging him to take up golf, O'Donnell insists that while it might come with the retirement territory, it's just not one of his interests.
Beyond the next year, O'Donnell said he might try his hand at teaching in area colleges, a lifelong desire he was able to indulge a bit while he was working in the school system's central offices.
Whatever he does, O'Donnell said, he has a feeling he'll be operating on school time for many years to come.
"I'll probably still wake up at 5 o'clock every morning," he said. "That's going to be hard to get out of."
- Rebecca Catalanello covers education in Pasco County. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6241 or toll-free 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6241. Her e-mail address is rcatalanello@sptimes.com
