New St Davids School principal feels at home

It’s not exactly Welcome Back, Kotter, but it’s about as close as it gets.

Carl Glauser wasn’t a sweathog, and didn’t actually attend St. Davids Public School, but the graduate of Parliament Oak and Niagara District Secondary School is proud to oversee the 410 students as their principal.

Glauser took over the reins of the close-knit community school in September, after stints as principal of Welland’s Plymouth Public School, Pine Grove Elementary in St. Catharines and Greendale Public School in Niagara Falls.

Growing up in Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Garrison Village subdivision, Glauser never actually set out to be a teacher. But he does remember a Grade 8 project putting a small kernel of an idea into his head.

“We had a career assignment that year,” Glauser remembers. “Andy Boldt and I went to visit Mr. McCarthy, the physical education teacher at Niagara District, to find out what it took to become a phys. ed. teacher. That was the first time I ever thought about it.”

Later, while attending NDSS, Glauser and another friend, Alan Willms, began coaching a NOTL Minor Hockey team. He says today that it was one of the best experiences he had had to that point in his life.

After graduating from District, Glauser pursued a business degree at Hamilton’s McMaster University, where, during his third year of studies and after switching his major to geography and environmental studies, he met his wife Karen.

“She was passionate that she wanted to be a teacher,” he says. “She was doing some volunteer work in east Hamilton schools, so I joined her. I realized how awesome that volunteer work was. I knew at that point that teaching was a possibility.”

After earning his degree at McMaster, he attended teacher’s college at Niagara University in Niagara Falls, New York, and was hired by the District School Board of Niagara in 1996 as a supply teacher. While striving to earn a contract position with the DSBN, he continued working as a server at the Prince of Wales Hotel.

His first contract position came a couple of years later, at his alma mater, Parliament Oak.

“I was hired to replace my own Grade 8 teacher, Dean Steele, when he retired,” he laughs. “I loved it, but I was the young guy, and we had declining enrolment. I knew that I may become surplus there at some point, so I was proactive and transferred to Woodland School on Seventh Street.”

The avid golfer loved that Woodland was on his way to Rockway Glen Golf Course, and it was during his five years teaching there that he began taking on leadership roles.

“I coached a lot of teams,” he recalls. “And as a Grade 8 teacher, I was organizing school trips, I was organizing graduation, I was working with the parent community. And then the principal, Tony D’Alessandro, gently suggested that I consider leadership.”

So Glauser enrolled in the DSBN’s leadership program, accepted a transfer to Prince Philip School in Niagara Falls, and was later seconded to help implement daily physical activity in 15 of the DSBN’s elementary schools. In 2006, he became the vice-principal of Orchard Park School, where he spent two years.

Glauser speaks with fondness of each of his career stops along the way, but it’s clear via his ever-present smile that his current role at St. Davids brings him the greatest amount of joy.

"It was like a dream come true,” he says of coming back to NOTL. As Carl and Karen raised their own kids while living in the Glendale subdivision, both of their boys, Ben and Taylor, attended St. Davids.

“That’s one of the things that made coming here so cool,” he says. “Taylor was in the last Grade 3 class at Laura Secord Memorial School when it closed. I was here as a parent, watching both boys play sports. I got to see so many great things about St. Davids School as a parent.”

As his own boys grew up, Glauser volunteered his time to coach youth soccer and hockey in NOTL, so he got to know many families involved in those activities. He says many of the current St. Davids students recognize Glauser from the arenas in Virgil.

“This feels like a true community school,” he says. “In July, the first or second day I came here, a community group came and talked to me about planting a pollinator garden in the front of the school. Right away they got it done. That was really awesome.”

He speaks with pride about the achievements of the students on provincial assessments, and about the success of their athletics.

“Lots of our sports teams do exceptionally well,” he almost brags while wearing a purple school polo shirt emblazoned with the team logo. “We’re the Dragons. Basketball carries the legacy of Wynand Groen, who the gym is named after. And volleyball and soccer, too.”

And he’s really looking forward to the junior-intermediate group’s presentation of the play Into the Woods in May.

“Staff is hard-working,” he adds. “They’re amazing. That’s what makes it a joy to come to school every day. We’ve nominated (teacher) Bryce (Honsinger) for a Prime Minister’s Award, for the things he does such as robotics and the heritage fair. He’s a real leader.”

Walking through the halls, students gravitate toward the principal. When Glauser drops in on the Kindergarten classes, the faces of the students light up as they proudly show off their Valentine's Day crafts. One of them asks Glauser if he wears that purple shirt every day.

“I walk by the grad photos and I see my boys on the walls,” he proudly points out to The Local. “And I see some of their teachers. I also see some of my friends’ kids here, some of the kids of guys I play hockey with. It feels like a family.”

He is warmly welcomed into the senior classrooms by the students of Honsinger and Grade 8 teacher Sean Hall. Glauser easily converses with them about their literacy and math work for the day.

With the St. Davids community quickly growing, and massive growth slated for the future in the Glendale area, Glauser sees St. Davids Public School, which currently uses three portables, as an important community asset.

“It’s a growing community,” he says. “It’s always exciting in a school when you’re growing. With it, your staff grows. And it’s become a much more diverse community, as well. It’s definitely changed the school, even from when my boys were here. It was much smaller even then. It really has a different feel.”

Having been principal at three other schools prior to St. Davids, Glauser is no stranger to the regular shuffling of school administrators across the DSBN and other school boards. But he’s hoping that he can ride out at least the next few years right where he feels at home, helping to guide that growth.

“Living in the community, it’s neat to bump into students,” he says. “I’m proud to be from Niagara-on-the-Lake and I take pride in serving the community. I’m excited to see young people succeed, and I always look forward to seeing what the future holds for some of these students, knowing that I had some small contribution to that.”

He feels he has the best job in the world. “When you’re having a bad day,” he laughs, “all you have to do is walk into a Kindergarten room. Nothing brings me more joy than seeing four- and five-year-olds at play. They smile and give me high fives. What’s better than that?”