Click here for part 6 – “Taking the next step…”
Emily Greene & Ellen Trinklein
Editor-in-Chief & Opinions Editor
The job of principal isn’t easy. In the nine years that Principal Tony Pavia has held the position, he has faced numerous controversies involving everything from spirit week to Darien – New Canaan squabbles. Some of Mr. Pavia’s decisions were well received and others were not, but ultimately Mr. Pavia used the tactics of communication and morality to smooth over controversies and maintain the flow of the school.
One of the biggest problems Mr. Pavia faced was the school’s reconstruction process, which began at the start of Mr. Pavia’s tenure. “Everything that was planned in terms of the construction project seemed to go wrong,” Assistant Principal Ari Rothman said. “[Mr. Pavia] took responsibility as a principal for making sure that the students’ education wasn’t affected.”
According to Mr. Rothman, the construction was especially difficult because the phasing timeline didn’t work and the plan had to be changed multiple times. “He really worked with the construction people, the town, school system, students, and parents so they understood what was going on,” Mr. Rothman said. “[He did] a lot of extra work that most principals didn’t have to worry about.”
Mr. Pavia has also made decisions regarding dances and spirit week. Starting with the 2007 Homecoming, Mr. Pavia decided to breathalyze all school dances. This resulted in student and parent backlash, but ultimately Mr. Pavia stood by his actions. “The decision to breathalyze everyone was based on his feeling that it was both the fairest way of dealing with things and it also ensured safety for everyone at these events,” Mr. Rothman said.
Other controversies included the out of hand 2007 spirit week and various incidents surrounding the New Canaan-Darien rivalry, including a violent hockey game in 2008 and the recent acts of vandalism.
To curb the frequency of these incidents, night time athletic events between New Canaan and Darien have been banned. Mr. Pavia worked with both Darien high school and FCIAC officials to organize this.
Despite these incidents, Mr. Pavia has remained highly supportive of athletics, according to Athletic Director Jay Egan. “He’s a fair person, and he’s very consistent,” Mr. Egan said. “If there is something that has needed to be addressed, [it]was always done in a clear, timely and concise fashion. He’s a man of fine principle.”
One of the difficulties Mr. Pavia faced in approaching controversies was the response from parents and other people that the situations affected.
However, Mr. Pavia said he didn’t care if he got 120 emails against him or none. Rather, he just kept asking himself if decisions he’d made were consistent or fair. “I’m more tortured individually if I think I did something wrong or if I didn’t make the right judgement,” he said. “I could always go to sleep soundly after homecoming or after suspending an athlete before the biggest game of the season, but I can’t sleep if I don’t feel I did the right thing. “
Pauline L’Herbette, class of 2008, was a senior the year homecoming and game privileges were taken away. She felt that although the actions were done by a small group of kids, the punishment was fair. “People had been pushing limits with events like Bonfire and Pep Rally for years and I think that what happened during homecoming 2007 was the last straw for him, which was understandable in my opinion,” she said. “Of course it’s unfair for the kids who didn’t cross boundaries but I guess that’s the price you have to pay when you’re being judged as a community and not just individually.”
Mr. Pavia achieved this sense of understanding through strong communication with the school community, which he related the way a politician might leak information. “If I think that something will happen, I talk about it,” Mr. Pavia said. “With each [controversy], I can recall communicating prior to and after the fact. It makes it less controversial if we can leak a prospect and articulate why its happening.”
Mr. Rothman agrees with this strategy.“The key is honest communication and when you have those genuine relationships with different groups of people, then people will trust you and respect your judgment even if they don’t agree,” Mr. Rothman said,
Mr. Pavia elaborated. “This student body is uniquely great in that you can talk to them about issues and the vast majority take them seriously,” he said. ”Life is about compromise and trade-off.”
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