Matt Byrnes, a Ridgefield resident for the last decade, has taken over as headmaster at Wooster School in Danbury. Mr. Byrnes has been active in the community, coaching basketball, hockey and soccer for his four children. After 20-plus years in public education, Mr. Byrnes made the switch to private education last July. — Steve Coulter photo
English teacher, football coach, high school principal, assistant superintendent — Matt Byrnes had done it all in his 20-plus year career in education.
But the new headmaster of Wooster School wanted a challenge — a change of scenery, and that’s why he made the leap to private education at the beginning of the 2013-2014 school year.
“It was really about the opportunity to be at a place that is more independent; I’ve been a public school educator my entire career,” said Mr. Byrnes, who’s been a Ridgefield resident for almost 10 years. “To not have what we do defined by politicians and heads of textbook corporations was very attractive to me.”
Wooster — home to 380 students that range from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade as well as 89 faculty member — is a much different, much smaller feel than Mr. Byrnes’ previous stops at Brewster High School, where he served as principal for six years, and Darien Public Schools, where he served as assistant superintendent for three.
“I think the size is great; it’s a smaller and more open environment, and that makes it a lot easier to get to know kids then it was when I was principal at Brewster,” he said. “I really like the age range too; it’s nice to see all those different kids over the course of the day.”
Before moving back home to the East Coast, Mr. Byrnes was a high school administrator in Marin County just north of San Francisco, where he had found his true calling in the classroom.
Originally from an Army background with plans to become a lawyer, he experienced what he describes as an epiphany working for a bank in New York City.
“I was looking back at the rows of desks there, and I saw this guy who had worked at the bank for 20 years,” he recalled. “I remember having this moment where I was like, ‘that’s is how far I’m going to move in 20 years — 10 feet.’
“It just wasn’t my gig; I gave it a nice shot,” he added. “But banking was just not for me — it’s too planned, and luckily I realized it then.”
With two years remaining on his ROTC commitment, Mr. Byrnes set out on a road trip out west — far from his native New Jersey — that last 12 years.
A political science and English major from Duke, he wound up launching his education career at San Francisco State teaching introduction to literature and composition to undergraduates under the tutelage of Bill Robinson —the head of the school’s Master’s program.
“He really hooked me on the idea this is something I should look into, and something I could be good at, even though I was a non-traditional candidate for them,” Mr. Byrnes said. “I had done a fair amount of teaching while in the Army, and I always enjoyed reading and writing so in the back of my mind I knew that was something I would do later in life, which explains why banking wasn’t my forte.”
It would be three years before he got his Master’s from the University of California-Berkely, but in the meantime Mr. Byrnes got approved to be a part of a reconstitution program at Balboa High School in San Francisco, where he taught English and coached football.
Although not in the classroom, he says coaching football was one of the highlights his career as an educator.
“When I got there, we were not supposed to have a football team because so many of the kids who would be playing football and failed out the year before and the rules said: if you failed out, you weren’t eligible,” he said. “I put a proposal together and presented to the schools’ superintendent, and got her to change her mind.”
With the team allowed to play, Mr. Byrnes established a program that monitored kids’ performance in the classroom.
His team didn’t make the playoffs in his first year, but went on to clinch a postseason berth in each of the next two seasons.
“Not to overstate the value of football, but for a lot of kids who stayed involved in the program it was the only reason they came to school,” he said. “A majority of them made it through and went on to graduate…
“In education, sometimes you don’t see tangible benefit and we were able to give the superintendent the evidence of our success,” he added. “That experience was really helpful for me early in my career.”
His first administrative job came after the stint at Berkeley, when he was looking again to dual as an English teacher and football coach.
“I was thinking that was going to be my trajectory, then I was offered the position of Dean of Students, and that ended my football coaching career,” he said. “Goes to show, you never know.”
Back on the East Coast with his wife and four kids, Mr. Brynes has been able to return to the sideline.
He says he’s averaged about two seasons of coaching over the last ten years, volunteering his time with the St. Mary’s youth basketball program as well as assisting in hockey and soccer.
Wooster got to enjoy his athletic expertise as well this winter, when he coached the seventh and eighth grade basketball team.
“Coaching ends up being a lot of time; it’s a good time though,” he said, when asked about his hobbies. “With this job, and it’s typical of any administration job, you have to be willing to blend your personal and professional life…
“You sort of get into that habit, I wouldn’t necessarily call it a hobby, but it takes time,” he added.
The switch to private education has benefited him with more than just a change of scenery.
Wooster has enabled Mr. Brynes to focus on two things he values as important to education — student happiness and student visibility.
“One of the things I noticed when I first got here is that the kids seemed kind of happier then kids I had seen over the last decade or so, and that made me feel bad because a lot of those schools I was in charge of,” he said. “Happy sometimes isn’t the right word, but it’s really being interested in what’s happening — that’s important to learning and to the well being of a student.”
He said that part of student happiness stems from Wooster’s physical layout — students walk outdoors from class to class — and that of part it comes from the small class size, but the real key ingredient is the way his faculty approaches personal relationships with students.
Mr. Byrnes doesn’t the name of every single student yet, but he sees them everyday.
“It’s virtually impossible for a kid here to be not seen — you can’t hide here, which I love,” he said. “We’re going to draw you out; you’re going to have to speak to people, you’re going to have to speak in front of the class and you’re going to have to take on some leadership positions…
“In the end, you have to start to think about who you are and show us who you think you are,” he added. “In a lot of schools, you can choose not to do any of that; you can go into the corner or slip through the cracks.”
Happiness and visibility go a long for students learning at Wooster, but another behind-the-scene factor is helping them, according to Mr. Byrnes — less restrictions for the people teaching them.
“When we figure out what we think is best for students, we can actually move in that direction without as many constraints as you have in public education,” he said. “In public education, people know what’s best for students, but they’re prevented in executing that a lot of the time with all the constraints put in place…
“Here, because of our size, kids get thrown into a lot more responsibility and I think they learn better because of it,” he concluded.
