Mulvey: High school principal reliever

On Friday, Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School hallways were filled with the sounds of students for the first time in months as the school held a freshman orientation. Incoming students took the morning finding their classrooms and getting to know their teachers before the first day of school on Tuesday.

They also got a moment to meet the school’s new principal — Sean Mulvey, who was tapped for the position earlier this summer. A tall and affable administrator, Mulvey was there to greet students and reconnect with some he had counseled at other Island schools.

For Mulvey, it marked an exciting moment for the school year and his career. Students bring him energy, and that’s why he has stuck with education for some 25 years. Sixteen of those years have been on the Vineyard.

“That’s what I thrive on, my students. I felt like I said ‘Hi’ to every kid,” he said of the first day for freshmen on Friday. “That’s what gives me energy, and that’s the way it’s always been, ever since my first day in education.”

In July, the MVRHS School Committee unanimously supported Mulvey to be the next principal after a strong endorsement from Superintendent Richie Smith. School Committee members gave a hearty endorsement of the principal as well, noting his strong ties to the community. 

The appointment comes on the heels of former Principal Sara Dingledy stepping down this summer to take a position in the central office of Vineyard schools; she served for nearly a decade. Mulvey has agreed to a one-year contract, and said that he is open to considering extending the contract if he likes the position. A year will give the committee ample time to find his replacement if that is the direction he chooses.

And Mulvey has the confidence of the administration that he could lead the school not just for what could be a challenging year, but into the future. In addition to his taking over from a principal who has been there nine years, the school is in the middle of a process of designing a major renovation and addition project that is expected to go before town meeting voters for funding in the spring.

For Smith, Mulvey’s strength is in his ability to build relationships with the community, be they parents, teachers, or students. He has lived on the Island for 16 years, been on the staff in multiple Island schools, and has coached youth sports and been an active member in the community.

“If school [staff and students] are collaborative with one another, if the principal is a shared decisionmaker, there is trust given to the teachers,” Smith said. “If that is established, that’s going to have a direct impact on students.”

Mulvey began his career in education in Colorado, where he served as a guidance counselor for public schools starting in the 1999-2000 school year before becoming the director of counseling at the private Valor High School. At the private school, he would ultimately become academic dean. 

His family moved to the Island in the early 2010s when he held a one-year contract as assistant principal at West Tisbury School. After that year, he became the assistant principal at Tisbury School, a position he held for eight years. Then in 2019, he came to the high school, where he took on the role of guidance counselor, which he held for the past six years. He has served alongside his wife, Erika Mulvey, who is also a guidance counselor at the school.

Both of Mulvey’s kids are now MVRHS alumni. Ben Mulvey graduated in 2022, and is currently attending Colorado State University, and Avery Mulvey, who graduated this past year, is attending the University of Pennsylvania.

Mulvey said that with both kids out of the house, he saw that he had more time for his career. Having two kids in the school system has given him a firsthand perspective of what it is like being a parent interacting with the school. He said that he’ll draw on that experience when working with parents. 

As for the school building project, he said that he is coming on as a bit of a relief pitcher, a baseball analogy referencing that he is coming in when the process is well underway. 

The project just passed through a major step with the Massachusetts School Building Authority, a state agency that could help reimburse taxpayers a significant amount of the construction costs. With the final design underway, the school administration will have to get the support of voters to pass funding for a project that has been estimated at roughly $330 million.

Mulvey will be front and center to that effort, as the high school principal. And he is not shying away from it. He said that he has already started to formulate in his head what he might say to voters on town meeting floors, and to leverage the relationships and knowledge he has gained of individual towns over the years. 

For Smith, Mulvey is in a good position to take the project forward. He has been within the school building for several years, he knows the population of students and teachers, and there is already a well-established team to move the project along with him. “All those are important in understanding what’s needed in a building,” Smith said.

Overall, Smith said, the high school community is fortunate to have Mulvey as its leader.

“We’re lucky to have him,” Smith said of Mulvey. “What Sean brings, he brings a steadiness, he brings an accountability and a focus on supporting staff that will always trickle down to his students.”