Cheshire Teacher Tapped as Derynoski Assistant Principal

When Marilyn Kahl graduated from college and joined the workforce as a sales and marketing associate, she quickly discovered that it wasn’t the fulfilling career she was looking for. Instead of dwelling on a potential mistake, Kahl made a decision – it was time to follow her dream.

Kahl, who was officially selected by the Board of Education Thursday as the assistant principal at the , has come full circle as an educator and is now in a position where she can make the kind of difference she’s always wanted to.

“This really has been a dream of mine. It was something I knew I wanted to do as soon as I started teaching,” said Kahl, 45. “I’m excited to be here and I love the direction that (School Superintendent) Joseph Erardi and the administration has taken this district.”

Kahl, who was born and raised in Cheshire, graduated from the University of Connecticut and received a degree in communications with a minor in marketing. She found a sales job out of college, but it wasn’t what she wanted.

So at the advice of her parents, Kahl went back to school at Saint Joseph College in West Hartford to become an educator and soon found herself in her hometown of Cheshire as a fourth-grade teacher at the Highland School.

She would spend 16 years there – eight teaching fourth-grade and eight teaching fifth-grade – before joining the administrative team at Derynoski.

“It’s a little bittersweet,” Kahl said. “I’m leaving a great school, but I’m also joining another great school with good leadership under Jan Verderame.”

For Kahl, being selected for the position may have felt like winning the lottery after the 81 educators applied for the position, said Board of Education Chairman Brian Goralski. Goralski said the three finalists presented to the board were all from out-of-district, but felt after interviews that Kahl was the best selection to work alongside Verderame.

“Whether it was the fact that her family lives in town or what she did as an educator, she brought an impressive resume and has the credentials to help the Derynoski community continue to shine,” Goralski said.

Kahl will start on Monday in her new role and will earn a salary of $105,400, prorated to $103,439 for the 2011-12 school year.

The Southington resident, who lives in town with her mother, husband and the couple's two children, both Southington students, was emotional and thanked her dad John Milton as she accepted the position. Milton died earlier this summer.

“My parents always told me this was the type of thing I should be doing, and they were right,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to this opportunity.”