| Seth Allred prepares to take over as the principal of Sally Mauro. |
For the majority of sixth graders, the jump from elementary school to junior high represents a major change in reality. The transition includes attending separate classes with a least six teachers and becoming the youngest in the building after being the big shots at the kindergarten to sixth grade level.
Seth Allred has experienced the opposite transition after accepting the principal’s position at Sally Mauro Elementary School. He switched from his educational career at the secondary level to become the principal at Sally Mauro, an environment with students who are as young as five years of age.
“Lunch room duty in the junior high school was one of watching for fights that might break out,” said the new principal. “Here, my big job during lunch so far has been opening milk cartons.”
Allred realizes being the principal at the elementary school will be different than what he has already faced as an educator. Last year, Allred coached girls volleyball at Mont Harmon Junior High. This year, he is cheerleading for teachers who have handled elementary classrooms for many years.
“I am amazed at the depth of what elementary teachers must know to teach school,” said the principal. “In secondary school, you teach subjects to 200 kids a day. Here you teach students.”
Allred, a native of southeastern Utah, grew up in Huntington. He understands what it takes to be an effective educator in small and larger schools.
Allred earned two bachelors degrees from Weber State University, one in wildlife management and the other in educational biology. He then completed a master’s degree and an administrative degree from Utah State University.
After spending many years teaching science at East Carbon High and Mont Harmon, Allred knows the differences he will face.
“It was a big transition moving from teaching small classes to kids in East Carbon to having 700 students running the halls at Mont Harmon,” he said. “It was a big change, just like this.”
Former Sally Mauro principal Mike O’Shea ran an excellent program, according to Allred.
“I’m giving you my baby,” O’Shea told Allred when she turned Sally Mauro over to him to become an elementary supervisor for the Carbon School District.
Allred indicated that he has taken the line very seriously and intends to honor O’Shea’s comment.
“We are going to keep working on many of the things that have been going on for some time,” he said. “I want to see our school become a gold medal school. We have been a bronze and a silver. It is now time for the gold.”
The gold medal school program involves healthy lifestyle habits and focuses on students and faculty members who eat right and exercise.
The Utah Bullying Initiative will be a major goal of the principal and the staff at the elementary school.
“We will be pushing that initiative and the education that goes with it,” he said. “We want kids to know about bullying and what it looks like so they can do something about it.”
With slightly less than 400 students, Sally Mauro will be a challenge for the new principal and he knows it.
“I look forward to the year and what I will learn from all the teachers and students,” said Allred.