FINAL LEAVING CERT FOR RETIRING PRINCIPAL
IT was a case of ‘schools out’ not just for students collecting their Leaving Cert results on Wednesday morning but also for teacher Mr Con McGinley who retires as principal of the Marist at the end of the month.
He greeted students arriving in the new school and handed them the brown envelopes containing the Leaving Cert results for a final time, having done so every year since becoming principal of the St Mary’s Road school in 1998.
‘I have 44 years of memories to look back on,’ he says. He began his teaching career in St Joseph’s Secondary School, Drogheda where he worked for 21 years before taking up an appointment as principal of Our Lady of Mercy, Mourne Road, Drimnagh, Dublin where he remained for four years.
During his time in Dundalk, the school celebrated the 150th anniversary of The Marist in Dundalk in 2011.
‘ That was a big milestone, not just for the school and the Marist Fathers but for the community,’ he recalls. He noted that the school bade farewell to the last Marist priest on the staff, when Fr Jimmy McEvoy left in February.
Paying tribute to all the staff whom he had worked with during his years in The Marist, he said that they had supported him professionally and personally throughout his time there and were dedicated to the welfare of their students.
‘Schools are in the business of preparing young people for society,’ he said. ‘So whether we are working with a young person who will get straight As or one who will be happy with six passes, we want to make sure that they all go out from school with confidence in themselves so that they will be an asset to society. That is not easily done and we want to give them as good as education as we can.’
The opening of the new school has been a major achievement for him and he is delighted that it has allowed them to offer students a wider choice of subjects.
‘We have a lot of new teachers coming in this September,’ he said, adding that he is not alone in retiring this year.
While he has ‘no major plans’ for his retirement, he will be going on stage with the Duleek Players as he has a keen interest in amateur drama. ‘I’ve also a big interest in the GAA and while I don’t play golf, I think I may well have to take it up!’