By: Mollie Shannon

Introduction: 

               Wesley Flinn is the principal at Kelly Middle School in Eugene Oregon. Kelly is a three-year school, grades six through eight.  He worked as a teacher for nine years before becoming an assistant principal at Kelly for six years.  This is Flinn’s first year as a principal.

Q: What was your path to becoming a principal? 

A:  I attended Skidmore College in upstate New York, and I was able to tutor some of my other classmates.  I really had fun working with other people and helping them out.  I ended up going and teaching in rural China for a year.  I worked with students who were learning to be teachers themselves. I came back from China and ended up living in Seattle for five years doing work with freight and containerships which was interesting but I needed something more. I ended up going back to college to get my teaching degree.  I got a job for two years in Brooklyn, and after that I got married and moved across country.  We both got jobs working at some of the local high schools in Eugene.  After that I became assistant principal at Kelly Middle school for six years, and this is my first year as a principal.       

Q: How have you seen PE change over the course of your career in education?

A:  We used to have two full time PE teachers here at Kelly Middle School and now we have one.  It’s been a challenge with all the budget cuts that have happened in the last ten years or so.  There is so much focus on core content and what’s being tested you have to really fight to keep those [programs].  I think having physical education, especially in middle school, is so important because we have kids, especially boys, for whom it’s challenging to have to ask them to sit in class and pay attention and be quiet when they’ve got all this energy.  The district used to have a mandatory PE requirement and now there is none due to budget cuts.            

Q:Where do you see health in schools in five years?

A:   I wish I could say that it was going to be more robust, but I’m not sure it is.  I think funding has to be taken care of first in schools.  I would hope that there will be more awareness going on, and that there are more funds available for working with kids on a whole range of health issues from mental health to having more of this relationship education piece.  I would love to have more connected programs where kids are involved in their own education around some of these health issues.