By Diego Hernandez Editor in Chief

The new school year brings about a new era on campus along with a new Principal Mr. Robert Martinez.  Mr. Martinez hopes to improve and lead our campus through this year of transition and shared that he started things off right thanks to our students and staff.  

 “From day one, the students have been very welcoming, and pretty open about their concerns for the school. The faculty is also amazing. In particular our Associate Principal Mr. Christian and Academic Dean Mrs. Bishop.  They have made this transition pretty smooth,” Martinez said.  

  Before being named principal, Martinez researched our school and was familiar with some of the challenges here for students and staff.  Martinez is working with students and faculty to make a few adjustments in the near future. These ideas involve possible changes to the campus layout and some dress code changes that have already taken effect like shorts.  For some of the bigger long-term changes, Martinez is hopeful that we get help from the district and community.   

“I know every four or five years we do a bond proposal in hopes of getting much-needed improvements to our schools from bond money,” Martinez said. 

  Martinez’s main proposals include an expansion project for the cafeteria and library.  He says an additional academic building would also be nice.  Martinez shared there is an area where a building could fit for another two-story building.  One major change happening very soon is the expansion of the Nurse’s office.  

“Our Nurse’s Office just isn’t big enough to support the needs of a campus as big as O’Connor,” Martinez said. 

Martinez decided to move the Nurse’s office to where the Career Center is; more than doubling the size.  

  “I feel like this is a move that we couldn’t wait on,” Martinez said. 

The new Nurse’s Office is scheduled to open in early November.  As part of the move, the Career Center will move into room B103 in the library which will likely increase traffic as students seek out more scholarships and college information while in the library.   

  Prior to his time with us, Martinez worked at multiple schools acting both as a teacher and an administrator.  These all include sister Northside ISD high schools starting off at John Jay.  

“I taught for six years at John Jay as a social studies teacher and then I got promoted to Assistant Principal at Clark, was at Clark for four and a half years and then got promoted to Vice Principal at Brennan,” Martinez said.

  Martinez enjoyed his time at all three schools and shared he’s thrilled to be here at O’Connor.  He reflected that this campus has successful students, with many institutions such as agriculture. Martinez shared he is excited to work with Ag Principal, Mr. Bohlken for the Agriculture Academy’s first year.  

“I love visiting the barnes and seeing all the animals. These things don’t normally take place at school and that’s pretty phenomenal. Overall, I’m very excited about the possibilities,” Martinez said.

  Martinez has always strived for his chances to become a leader in the development of young people. His path to  O’Connor became available with Mrs. Horras’s departure. 

 “I knew the position would become available when Mrs. Horras was promoted last spring. There were actually four principal openings this past summer, and I lucked out and got the best one,” Martinez said.

Mr. Martinez has been preparing for this time with us consistently and through his performance under other advisers

who sat where he is now. 

 “What has really prepared me is that I have had mentors to work under. Being able to establish my beliefs and values for the students was great for me, seeing different levels of students and their successes and challenges has given me the perspective to help students at all levels for the better,” Martinez said. 

  “In teaching, you affect a lot of lives, you can work with students, coach them, and motivate them to become the best that they can be,” Martinez said.

  As the school year continues, still amidst Covid regulations, Principal Martinez shared he aims to improve this campus for both teachers and students, “Go  Panthers!”