Ocean View School District Supt. Michael Conroy announces retirement

Michael Conroy has a wife, a daughter who’s an incoming junior at Louisiana State University and a college graduate son who works in Baltimore.

After spending time with them this summer, he realized he wanted more of that.

Conroy is resigning as superintendent of the Ocean View School District, effective at the end of this month, he said Monday.

Julianne Hoefer, who has been serving as the district’s deputy superintendent since March, will step into the interim superintendent role.

Conroy was the district’s deputy superintendent from 2015 until 2022, under Supt. Carol Hansen. When she retired, he returned from his own retirement to take over superintendent duties.

“I’ve been in education since 1984, and I’ve accomplished all of my professional milestones that I was looking to achieve,” said Conroy, 67. “After I retired the first time, I was exploring consulting opportunities when the district called me and asked if I was interested in coming back. After careful consideration, I agreed.

“This summer, I got to spend the entire month of July with my wife and kids and realized how much I valued and missed my time with my family. This job was becoming much more encompassing of the responsibilities and the two were not aligned. I’ve always said family first, and that was my decision, that I was going to retire.”

Ocean View School District Supt. Michael Conroy speaks during the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Park View Park on Oct. 28, 2022.

(File Photo)

The district has had to deal with continued declining enrollment during Conroy’s two-plus year tenure. A superintendent’s task force was formed last year to deal with possible school closures. In the end, the Board of Trustees voted in November to consolidate Spring View Middle School but leave open three other elementary schools on the potential chopping block, Golden View, Circle View and Village View.

“The biggest issue was to engage the community in the conversation that deals with the decline of student enrollment in the district, and the various impacts that it has on the district from a fiscal perspective to a staffing issue to our facilities,” Conroy said. “I’m proud of the conversations and the work that took place by our staff, as well as the community ... We’re still declining in enrollment, and that’s not going to go away. We’re still going to have fiscal issues and staffing issues and facility issues. This is something that the board in the future is going to have to continue to deal with, as well as the community.”

Still, he said the current leadership team is cohesive. Earlier this year, Alice Lee was promoted from the director of teaching and learning to the assistant superintendent of educational services.

“I think she is going to be a wonderful leader to transition us into the future, and I think we’ll start to see some real positive impact in student leadership,” Conroy said.

OVSD Board of Trustees Clerk Gina Clayton-Tarvin was the president of the board both times that Conroy was hired, helping lead the searches in 2015 and 2022.

“I think he took on a lot of really difficult tasks, maybe things that were uncomfortable or things that others not as strong as him wouldn’t have taken on,” Clayton-Tarvin said. “I’m really happy that he came back to work for the Ocean View community again. Dr. Conroy and I have not always agreed on different policies; one major decision that was made was the consolidation of Spring View. I voted against that, but he stated that it was in the district’s best financial interest.

“It didn’t matter if we disagreed. We were always professional with each other, and I appreciated his work. It was never personal, and that’s Michael Conroy. He was the consummate professional.”