Special Educator – Teacher reflects on unique career

• Connecticut Teacher Considers Four-Decade Vocational Journey

This article has won an SPJ award and originally appeared in Today Magazine, our monthly publication

By Chloe Kieper

Special to Today Online and Today Magazine

For 40 years, Dr. Eileen F. O’Neil made it her professional objective to be “an effective, equity-driven educational instructional leader.”

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Educators often find themselves in a range of diverse roles throughout their careers — O’Neil is no exception, having taken on job positions ranging from assistant principal to department coordinator to special education teacher, working with a range of ages and responsibilities.

62 years young when she retired, O’Neil was an assistant principal at Avon High School from 2014-21 and a special education teacher and department coordinator at Simsbury High School from 2000-2014, working with thousands of students from Connecticut's Farmington Valley in these roles.

A Simsbury resident, O’Neil originally hails from Dracut, Mass., and is a graduate of Dracut High School. She stayed in Massachusetts throughout her college career, gaining her bachelor's degree in education from Boston University in 1981.

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O’Neil started her career with a focus on special education after gaining her certification in the field from BU, beginning as a special education teacher for grades 7-8 in her hometown of Dracut in 1981. O’Neil taught at Dracut Junior High School from 1981-92 before moving to North Carolina in 1992.

For the next four years, she worked in Charlotte, N.C., taking on teaching and supervisory roles in the Behaviorally/Emotionally Handicapped (BEH) Program at Myers Park High School and Providence High School before heading back to New England.

She first came to Connecticut in 1996, continuing her career in special education at Dwight Elementary School in Hartford and then at South Windsor High School. O’Neil began her tenure at Simsbury High School in 2000. After moving to Connecticut, she gained her master’s degree in education from Central Connecticut State University in 2002.

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O’Neil displays an essential trait for educators — the ability to never stop learning. She gained her doctorate in education in 2017 from CCSU.

In 2014 O’Neil became an integral member of the Avon school system, being appointed to the intense administrative role of assistant principal at Avon High School and continuing in that role for seven years until 2021.

She helped see the school through the turbulence of the COVID-19 pandemic, working with other administrators to guide the school system through the difficulties and extreme changes faced during this time.

Her most recent role for the Avon Public Schools was as the district’s family and student services coordinator during the 2021-22 school year. After spending two decades working in Valley school systems, O’Neil officially left education behind and headed into retirement in the summer of 2022.

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• In an exclusive interview with Today Magazine, O’Neil reflects on her life and education experiences:

Why did you decide to become an educator — in other words, what motivated you to go into education?

• O’Neil — I worked as a child-care counselor in a residential treatment facility prior to graduating from BU with my degree in education. That experience had a profound impact on me. I was "too young” to be employed there when they hired me. They normally only took college grads, but I had a work-study grant that allowed them to hire me with no cost to them. It was the most formative experience of my preservice life and truly impacted my decision to become a teacher of students with special needs.  

Your favorite teachers from your school days?

• O’Neil — Mr. Peter Quirk: He was my chemistry teacher and also the advisor for the Key Club. I was president of that club, a service organization, and Mr. Quirk was very supportive and had high standards for all of us.

My other favorite teacher was our music director. He was amazing and directed the school musical in which I also participated. His name was Maurice Pepin and he was loved by one and all. I will never forget the first time I was on the stage getting ready to sing in one of the musicals and the terror was overwhelming.

Mr. Pepin looked up from the pit where he would be directing and said, “You’d rather be dancing in the background, wouldn’t you” — referring to the part I had taken the year before as well as my many years of Irish step dancing. I simply nodded in the affirmative and he said, “Okay, let’s go, you will be fine.” And I was. It never got easier to walk on a stage to sing, but I remembered his faith in me and it was okay. 

Most essential attributes for an educator?

• O’Neil — You must like students as much if not more than your subject matter. Students are why we are there and they need to be our center. Yes, curriculum is important and we must do a good job with that, but students are at the center of our work. 

Most fulfilling aspect of your work in education?

• O’Neil — When a student is proud of their work and their success, it is the best part. It’s our goal, of course, but frequently a student will assign their own success to the skill of the teacher. While that is clearly a big part, we must acknowledge a student’s agency over their own outcomes. 

Your take on the smartphone revolution and its impact on education:

• O’Neil — Well, I don’t blame it for as many issues as many seem to, and I do like technology for so many reasons. Access to education has become easier for many because of technology, and those with learning challenges can really benefit from technology. The challenge is balance.

The greatest obstacle students face today, and how we can help them overcome it:

• O’Neil — The challenge I see as the most impactful for good and for bad is social media. I think we need to do a better job of teaching students some skills that will help them mediate the good and the bad of social media. Helping them learn to limit time spent and to recognize when some influences are unhealthy is clearly a need, and we should continue to focus on that and how to help parents support their children in the home with the same issues. 

Anecdote offering a snapshot of your work in education:

• O’Neil — At the conclusion of the 2020-21 school year, I was surprised when the yearbook was presented to me and the page for the dedication was revealed. The yearbook was dedicated to me. I could not have been more surprised to see the two-page dedication.

The words focused on my work with students directly and my daily morning routine of opening the gym so students who arrived early would have a spot to play a game of basketball or hang with a few friends and have some social time before the day started. I was an assistant principal then — who most associate with school discipline — so having the book dedicated to me was truly a wonderful surprise. 

What do you appreciate most about the Farmington Valley? 

• O’Neil — Personally, I love the access to walking trails and the very “green” nature of the area. I often hike in Talcott Mountain State Park in Simsbury.

What constructive change would you like to see in the Valley?

• O’Neil — I would love to see a wider variety of housing options that might encourage and support a more diverse population for the Valley. I do believe that diversity enhances all. 

Favorite spots in the Valley — restaurants, recreation, et al:

I’m a big fan of Millwright’s Restaurant and their summer spot for tacos: TA-Que. I also take advantage of all the great places to walk. 

Favorite books:

The Harry Potter series — yes, I will admit that!

Favorite TV shows:

I’m a fan of the reality series “The Great British Baking Show” in large part because I love to cook and bake. I also watch lots of crime shows like NCIS and CSI, and I attribute that to my education and focus on behavior overall in my academic studies. +

This feature received a first-place SPJ award and originally appeared in the September 2022 edition of Today Magazine, our monthly publication — the article is timeless and clearly relevant today

Featuring community news that matters nationwide, Today Online and Today Magazine aim to record Connecticut’s underreported upside — covering the heart of the Farmington Valley and beyond​

Reporter Chloe Kieper was a senior at Avon High School when this story was first published — she is now studying political science and government at UConn — Kieper has received two SPJ awards overall for her Today work, and she also received the 2023 Today Magazine Bart + Ann Memorial Scholarship via Avon Dollars for Scholars

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