Leading from the Heart: Tribute to Dr. Bill Conard

GMS Principal Bill Conard forged a close bond with students over the past 7 years.

By Rumni Saha with input from GMS staff

It was in June of 2013 when I wrote an article for the Citizen about Dr. Bill Conard and his battle with cancer. For all of us at the Galvin Middle School, it had been a time filled with unexpected sadness, eventually giving way to a sense of restrained relief, enormous gratitude as well as guarded optimism for our future.

The past six years have been laced with hope as Dr. Conard bounced back with the utmost grace from the grips of the hideous illness and emerged a stronger and a more beloved leader of GMS. It has also been a time spattered with many major accomplishments and creative initiatives which must be celebrated as he gets ready to embark on another chapter of selfless giving.

Shortly after Dr. Conard arrived at GMS, he was overheard as saying, “It is practically educational malpractice to have so little technology available to students while attempting to deliver 21st century learning.” Not surprisingly, when the head of technology spearheaded an initiative to introduce Chromebooks, Dr. Conard recognized the urgency and made it his priority in subsequent years to add as many Chromebooks as the budget would permit. Currently we have close to 300 Chromebooks throughout the building. This vision for a technologically robust school has had a major impact on teaching and learning in the classroom, one that benefits all.

Dr. Conard has made a steady effort to build a caring school culture. From the introduction of a school mascot, our furry bulldog, to the distribution of faculty t-shirts which he and many staff members proudly don every Friday, to the gifting of motivational books to staff for summer reading, and events like the faculty ice-cream social where Dr. Conard personally scooped and served his staff, a sense of Galvin pride was born. We have often admired how thoughtful and meaningful his year-end staff appreciation gifts have been. One year he gave out beautiful, hand-crafted marble apples which not only supported artisans in developing countries but gave us a glimpse of our history as teachers. And who can ever forget the spirited welcome message to staff, students and families through the all-call placed the night before school started? His excitement for the beginning of a new school year was contagious and truly memorable!

Dr. Conard also helped build the culture of Professional Learning Communities and introduced peer walk-throughs, as well as other common planning times. He has fervently advocated for our neediest students and has been supportive of all efforts to serve them in the best possible way. He knows every child’s name and can be regularly seen in the hallways greeting students or having a boisterous conversation with them.

Dr. Conard has also tackled the “hard stuff.” It took a year of meetings to redesign the school schedule. He made this an inclusive process that involved the perspectives and feedback of many teachers and multiple disciplines. He introduced the cascading schedule, tried homeroom at the end of the day, and when kinks emerged, he was flexible enough to rethink the schedule and revise it, and somehow found time to create the new Bulldog Block — an advisory-type period in which students and homeroom teachers get to deepen their relationships with each other as they experience enriching activities. This year he had the courage to try something completely new and different with the implementation of Team Silver. Much good came out of this effort, and we hope that an enduring piece of this initiative will be the concept of Seminar Block.

Some of his other initiatives include an effort to create pure teams, inspire teachers to design project-based learning activities and develop cross-curricular learning opportunities — not surprising as the dissertation for his doctoral degree from DePaul University was on service learning, something that he continues to practice daily.

Other undertakings that have flourished during Dr. Conard’s time include the many projects that faculty members have been encouraged and supported to accomplish: Cultural Heritage Night, the Teacher Expo, the Iditarod Teacher on the Trail, the MakerSpace project, Home Base classroom, and many fun field trips which encourage team-building skills. While these projects may not all be attributed to him, it is the building principal who encourages new ideas to flourish, which in turn leads to a creative, inclusive and academically rigorous school.

Under his auspices, GMS was also physically transformed into a warm, vibrant, welcoming space where student work and student accomplishments are proudly displayed. And Dr. Conard was always willing to get down and dirty, literally, to make things shine. Stories like the following abound: When, over the weekend, a pipe burst in one of the classrooms and Ms. Stuart, greeted by soggy tiles strewn across the room, called the office for the custodial staff, Dr. Conard came right up and cleaned the mess before the students came in. Also whenever coverage was needed but no substitute was available, he stepped right in and covered the classes. How many principals are known to do that? He was always one of us.

The 2017-18 school year began full of hope and proceeded with accomplishments towards our goals of improved morale and more transparency, but it is unfortunately ending with the rather unexpected departure of our beloved principal. Through it all his driving ambition was to treat the children as if they were our own. One of Dr. Conard’s humbling reminders to his staff has always been his favorite quote by Dr. Kevin Maxwell: “Our job is to teach the students we have. Not the ones we used to have. Those we have right now. All of them.”

We will miss his goofy laugh, his unapologetic sense of humor, but most of all his child-like, contagious and immeasurably kind spirit that also had the ability to soothe and heal. It is not surprising, therefore, that at a recent faculty meeting when staff members were given the opportunity to share their thoughts about Dr. Conard, the recurring words to describe him were “kind,” “thoughtful,” and “caring.” He is the most personable administrator who is also the most consummate professional.

I too can honestly say that I would not be teaching today had it not been for this kind man who firmly advised me to take time off recently when dealing with an incredibly difficult time in my personal life. I remember clearly when I poked my head into his office one late afternoon, barely able to breathe but putting up a brave front and asked if we could chat; he told me he only had a few minutes; nevertheless, when my unintended fragility was exposed, he stopped what he was doing, closed the office door behind him, and brought me outside to the benches where he counseled and convinced me to take time off. His eyes welled up when I shared what had transpired and for the next hour this ordinary educator and her personal pain was greater than all the paperwork in the world. I took his advice, and when I returned rejuvenated after a much-needed, long hiatus, he checked with me often and in September the following year I received a hand-written card with a kind message saying, “How good it is to see you having a positive year and how much your smile brings to the whole day.” This is classic Bill, the quintessence of genuine goodness and compassion who somehow always got the bigger picture.

Dr. Conard will leave an indelible mark on the fabric of GMS. We are heart-broken but will, no doubt, be stronger because of the legacy of kindness and integrity he leaves behind. Thank you, once again, Dr. Conard, for believing in the worth, value and dignity of every child and adult alike. You will be missed more than words but we are enormously grateful and incredibly fortunate to have worked closely with a boss who has epitomized kindness and humanity no matter how difficult the road has been.

Until we meet again …

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