MHHS principal Barry Cahill to retire

Cahill, who rose from the ranks from teacher to high school principal, will retire this year, after serving his entire 37-year career in the district.

Mountain Home High School Principal Barry Cahill will retire at the end of this school year, after serving all 37 years of his career in education in the Mountain Home School District.

In fact, that career goes back even further, having done his student teaching in the district as well.

He's been principal at the high school for the last five years, and each year graduation has been the highlight of the year for him as he has handed out diplomas to the students he helped shepherd and mentor to that achievement.

This year's graduation on May 26 will be particularly bittersweet. Among the graduates will be his youngest daughter, the last child of three that he and his wife, who also is retiring from teaching duties at East Elementary, have raised in Mountain Home.

Cahill began his teaching career student teaching under Harry "Bud" Light, whom he described as one of his mentors, along with Maury Townsend. He taught freshman English for several years, as well as a class in modern communications. "That had been Bud's idea, but when he moved up to a counseling position, he left it to me to put together. We didn't even have a text. It's a lot of work to teach a class without a text," Cahill said.

After three years of teaching, Cahill was promoted to become the counselor at the junior high. He obtained a masters in counseling and administration, and when the junior high vice principal's job opened up, Cahill was selected.

"Timing has always been great for me," he said, noting a number of cases where opportunities arose just as he became ready for them.

A year after taking the vice principal's job, Bill Trueba retired as principal and Cahill advanced into that spot. Two years later, "I got to open that new building," he said with pride of the new junior high. "There was a lot of work involved, but also an excitement, good feelings" about launching the district's newest school.

Three years later he was promoted to principal of the high school, where he has clearly left his mark on both the students and the staff, although, typical of his character, he gives all credit to the staff and students for any successes at the school.

"When I came here, I had a vision. I wanted Mountain Home (High School) to be the standard of the West.

"I saw my job as supporting the students and the staff. I wanted to do whatever I could to make their job easier and to relate to the school."

He helped the students and staff develop a deep sense of pride in their school and challenged them to be the very best. Both students and staff have praised him for his caring and involvement in the lives of his students and the school.

For Cahill, that meant many long hours. It was, for example, rare for him not to show up for a sporting or academic event, not just at home, but when the teams traveled to other schools as well. "I guess I just wanted them to know I cared," he said. "I'm on the road four to five nights a week. My first year here, I put 30,000 miles on my car."

"I think we have terrific students," he said. "They're smart, and they succeed. And I think part of the reason is the dedicated staff. I walk into a classroom and I see kids engaged in learning, asking questions, being involved, and you can't always say that everywhere."

He's proud of them.

"It's easy to pick on kids, but you look at the number of kids here doing all kinds of different things," from taking part in academic programs and athletic programs at the same time, "and it's just amazing."

"I look at kids like those on the debate team, that debate the best in the nation in places like Stanford and Berkeley. I walk into the shop classes and watch kids welding who are good enough to walk right into a job.

"It amazes me what kind of talent goes through this high school."

Cahill believes education hasn't changed over the years so much as it follows a cycle, from "open classrooms" to more prescribed classrooms. "What has changed, he said, "is the speed at which the world is going. Five years ago we didn't have to worry about cell phones in classrooms. We taught keyboarding in tenth grade.

"Today, first graders know how to keyboard."

One area where Cahill is most proud is the effort to develop curriculum that gives students college credit.

"We've always done some of that, say the CNA classes getting credit at CSI for example, but this year AP biology gets four credits at BSU, and we're looking at that with calculus, AP government and chemistry. We're going to do more of that."

He and the staff also believe in accountability, making sure they're teaching "what we say we're teaching," so that students all pass the new required assessment tests.

"I hope," he said, that students "are better prepared" to enter the real world than they were in the past.

At the same time, he said, he recognizes the fear some students have about leaving the confines of the high school for the real world. "High school has always been a tough place. There's a lot of social pressures. But maybe they're also seeing the responsibilities" that will carry them into the future, and stepping up to the challenge.

Cahill tends to downplay his own leadership skills in helping direct those students to their future.

"Administration isn't so much leadership, as finding the right people to solve the problems. They have the answers. The key is you have to listen to them."

And, he said, you have to treat people with respect to get the best out of them. "I've tried to do that, to be open to ideas. I think I've tried to be a model for the kids," over the years. At the same time, he said his biggest regrets came from inadvertently saying something that might have hurt someone's feelings. "That's going to happen sometimes. You don't mean it, but it happens, and I think my biggest regrets are when I hurt someone's feelings. As an educator, you have to always be aware of the power of your words, how they can help or hurt. You have to be aware of that responsibility."

But overall, he's happy with the career he's had, largely because of the interaction he's had with the students and his fellow educators.

"I love the kids, and I've been blessed with great principals and great school boards. Mountain Home has been a good place to have a professional career."

Cahill admits he's not sure what retirement will bring for he and his wife. "This is a real bittersweet decision. It's not like I was looking forward to quitting, I like coming to work. That's the scary part. It's just time to do it. I guess I'm feeling the same sort of trepidation our graduates feel. But every time you change it's the opening of a new door, and you never know what sort of things are going to open up for you.

"I'm told," he said of his pending retirement, "that the nice part is Sunday night," not having to worry about the work that will be sitting on his desk Monday morning.

At the same time, he said, "I'll miss the kids, the interaction of going down the hall and talking to them. The kids still make me marvel."