Balloons, cake, and a festive mood filled the Commons on Friday, March 8, when the school gathered for a special event: congratulating ACC’s very own Mr. Mainor, who won the Assistant Principal of the Year award. Mr. Mainor’s family and Superintendent Dr. Durán visited the school to speak at the ceremony and celebrate. 

Mr. Mainor has worked at the Career Center for four years as an assistant principal, and before that, taught ten years as an English teacher at Wakefield. He enjoys being an Assistant Principal because he is able to interact with students the same way teachers are, but also that he has the ability to see how things work from the admin side— and, if needed, make a change that will benefit the school. He considers his greatest accomplishment to be creating a Restorative Center here at ACC “where students can engage in restorative circles with one another, and staff can obtain the resources they need to feel empowered in these practices,” according to APS’s article on the event.

Mr. Mainor described it as a very multidimensional job. Luckily, with so many responsibilities, he has students, teachers, and the other admin staff to support him, as well as a chance to offer support to those who need it.

Arlington Public Schools runs the Assistant Principal of the Year award along with Principal of the Year, Teacher of the Year, Leader of the Year, and Support Employee of the Year. There are twenty-nine district schools in APS, plus nine option schools, for a total of thirty-eight schools. Since different schools often have more than one assistant principal, there is a very large pool of possible candidates, which makes this an even greater accomplishment.