‘Too much testing,’ says Mullen as he bows out of Warwick schools

John Howell
Posted 7/28/15

The graphs and charts were still on the corkboard Friday afternoon, but the rest of Dennis Mullen’s office was stripped bare. He sat behind a clean desk. This was Mullen’s last day as director of …

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‘Too much testing,’ says Mullen as he bows out of Warwick schools

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The graphs and charts were still on the corkboard Friday afternoon, but the rest of Dennis Mullen’s office was stripped bare. He sat behind a clean desk. This was Mullen’s last day as director of secondary education and another turning point in his 39-year career in education.

Mullen is thinking of going back to his “roots.” Once again he would like to teach social studies and English, although nothing has been firmed up at this point. Being an administrator has taken him away from kids and, fundamentally, he sees the role of education as the “business of helping kids.”

Thinking back on his career, he said the greatest reward has been watching kids take his advice and those who come back and tell him the difference he has made.

He also gains satisfaction from the recognition he gained as principal of Pilgrim High. The Rhode Island Association of School Principals recognized him as the state’s outstanding new principal for the 2004-05 academic year. Five years later, the organization recognized him with the principal of the year award. The awards are based on nominations followed up by interviews with students and parents.

A year after receiving the new principal award, Pilgrim was selected by the Rhode Island Department of Education as a commended school. It was another achievement Mullen points to with pride.

But Mullen isn’t necessarily happy with how education is progressing today.

“We need to look at how much we’re testing students,” he said.

Referencing the charts and graphs his successor, Steven Ruscito, principal of Westerly High School, will have to deal with, Mullen said teachers today are burdened with paperwork and testing. Ruscito will be in the office Aug. 6 and officially assume the position on Aug. 17.

Speaking of testing, Mullen said, “If I was in the classroom I would be frustrated as well. Give the opportunity for teachers to do what teachers do best, and that’s to teach.”

He notes the Rhode Island Department of Education took a 180-degree turn when former commissioner Deborah Gist introduced the concept of the Regent diploma with what he felt relied on high stakes testing. This he saw as an about-face to the digital portfolio and the senior project as a threshold to graduation by proficiency.

“I love the portfolio and the senior project,” said Mullen. “It is aligned to academic expectations. The senior project has become a part of the culture now.”

Mullen said senior project enables students to develop a passion and is valuable in preparing them for college, as it is to pursue a career.

In recent years a lot of Mullen’s time has dealt with consolidation of secondary schools in response to declining enrollment. He worked with the panel that came up with the recommendation to close Gorton Junior High School, which was rejected by the School Committee, and then the commission that unanimously recommended closing both Gorton and Aldrich Junior Highs as well as Vets High and reopening Vets as a middle school with grades 6 through 8. The School Committee rejected that plan, too. It retained Symmes Maini & McKee Associates to conduct a study and come up with several options. This spring the committee selected the plan its own panel endorsed more than a year earlier.

Mullen called SMMA’s work “a validation of what we did.”

Although difficult for a community because of school attachments and changes it brings, Mullen views consolidation as opening many “opportunities.” With larger student bodies high schools have the ability to offer more academic programs and there’s a larger pool from which to draw for extracurricular activities such as Mock Trial and Academic Decathlon and athletics.

Mullen’s career in education started in the all-girls Catholic Bishop Keough School in Pawtucket. He taught social studies and English there for three years before moving on to Bishop Connolly in Fall River, Mass. and Hendricken High School, where he also taught and served as the assistant principal for student life. He then moved on to Oxbridge High School, where he was an assistant principal.

It was a short run. It was the 1989-90 academic year, a big year for retirements statewide as well as in Warwick.

The late Robert Shapiro, who was assistant superintendent, asked Mullen to come to Warwick, and he taught for four years at Gorton before being named the school’s department head of social studies in 1994. Two years later he held the same position at Pilgrim, a post he held until 2004 when named the school’s principal.

It’s a job that he took to and one that stands out in his tenure in Warwick schools. He enjoyed the interaction with faculty and building a team and working with students and parents. He said assistant principals at the time Don Miller and Marie Cote “helped me with discipline and gave me time for the academic piece.” As principal, he said, he found he really could effect change.

During his tenure as principal he took a one-year hiatus and under a state program funded by the feds assessed the secondary teacher evaluation system implemented by Commissioner Gist.

Mullen stepped up to the position he is retiring from in 2012.

It’s been a job that’s kept him behind a desk and one he admits hasn’t been the most favored of his career. He announced his decision to retire from Warwick schools in April and return to a parochial school earlier this year before controversy surfaced over the handling of incidents involving a Gorton teacher drawing a phallic symbol on the arms of two female students. An independent investigation of the incidents was launched by the School Committee, which was completed this spring, but has not been made public. Mullen chose not to comment on the matter.

The plan to return to a role in parochial school has changed for the moment. He’ll be spending time with family and he notes in particular his three-year-old grandson, Cole.

Mullen will be available to help Ruscito make the transition to director of secondary education.

And, no question, he’ll be planning the course to get back to his roots and teaching.

Comments

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  • Justanidiot

    Too bad he didn't know how to follow the rules about open meetings.

    Make sure you take your trophies and don't let the door hit you where the good lord split ya...

    Tuesday, July 28, 2015 Report this

  • Biggameatball

    Hey Justanidiot - that doesn't rhyme! You tried to rhyme "you" and "ya"...you've got to proof your comments before posting.

    Tuesday, July 28, 2015 Report this

  • Justanidiot

    Sorry y'all

    I didn't do so good at school

    Maybe another thyme

    I can make a better rime.

    Tuesday, July 28, 2015 Report this

  • Gonewiththewind

    You had the chance but you couldn't do it. Enjoy your retirement and don't let the door hit you in the ... on the way out. Two gone and one left to go.

    Tuesday, July 28, 2015 Report this

  • davebarry109

    Mullen was/is a good guy. Good luck sir. Great principal. Your school was head and shoulders about the rest due largely to your style. You showed that a principal can make a difference.

    Wednesday, July 29, 2015 Report this