Mr. Chanese

Why did you decide to go into education, and specifically the admin track?

I wanted to be a marine biologist, and then my AP English class changed my trajectory for me. We had conversations that I had never really done in school before, and it was a really cool experience for me. When it came time to declare my major, I chickened out and put English instead of marine biology. Even then, I wasn’t going to be a teacher. I woke up as a sophomore in college terrified because I realized I was unemployable because there were no English factories anymore. So I changed over to teaching so I could have gainful employment. I ended up enjoying it, and I swore I would never be a principal. What changed was that in 2006 I joined the Central Connecticut Writing Project, which was part of the National Writing Project, which is a huge non-profit, with the purpose of teachers teaching other teachers the craft of writing. I started going to national conferences and then I founded a student version of the writing project. I started presenting at the national conferences, and I found I really like working with adults as well as kids. I decided to change the trajectory of my career. 

Why the Arts Academy?

At first it was a whim – I was at East Hartford High, and I decided I needed a change. I had three half-day students in one of my English classes, and they used to speak so highly of the Arts half-day program over at the Learning Corridor. One of the kids found out I was applying for an English teaching job at Arts and became my informal advocate. He wasn’t all that happy at East Hartford, but Arts was his safe space where he had a real sense of belonging and could live his truth. I ended up getting the job at Arts High and I came in in August. The first semester was pretty wild: think planes, trains, and automobiles. Every day, my students and I had to take a bus from the learning corridor to an ice rink where my temporary classroom was. It was a lot, and I was feeling a little discouraged, but then my attitude started to shift. I would go to shows and share-outs and WIP nights, and kids who hadn’t said a word in my class would show their star-power: it was so impressive. The ethos of the place was something I wanted to be a part of. Things were happening.

Anyway, fast forward. After several years at Arts, I left the classroom on Halloween 2014. I had planned that I was going to be out for 5 years as an instructional coach at PSA. Then, in August of 2015 Arts called me and said you have to come back: both assistant principals were leaving. So, after some convincing, I took a position as an assistant principal. Over the summer, I was called into CREC central to discover that the principal was also leaving. When they offered me the job I was frightened and flabbergasted and not entirely sure I was ready, but I said yes. YOLO.