BRANDYWINE HUNDRED — The principal’s office at Immaculate Heart of Mary School underwent some work this summer, but the person who is spending the 2024-25 academic year as the principal has no intention of moving in.
Fran Corrigan, entering his 40th year in Catholic education, is perfectly content being IHM’s assistant principal, but he agreed to assume the top spot on an interim basis after the position opened in June.
“I did not see this coming, but I’d been a principal before, and being an assistant principal at Saint Mark’s for eight years, and at least having one year under my belt here, I’m more than ready to take things on,” he said in mid-August.
Corrigan came to IHM last year, the latest stop on his journey in Catholic education.
That started as a student at St. Elizabeth School, which he attended for elementary and high school. After graduating from the University of Delaware, he taught for a year at St. Helena School in Bellefonte before moving to IHM the next year.
He returned to his alma mater, St. Elizabeth, for 21 years as a teacher and principal, before going to Saint Mark’s. There, he was a teacher and the director of mission and ministry. He did not go into Catholic education on purpose, “but once I was there, I couldn’t see myself anywhere else.”
Early on, he thought about getting into another line of work, but he realized he liked education.
“Being with kids is a great thing. It keeps us young. As much as I was serving as an administrator, the best thing is being with the kids. Even last year I had the opportunity to teach for a while, and that’s always a blessing,” he said.
He has taught a number of subjects over the years. At Saint Mark’s, he taught public speaking, and he also did social studies and English over the years.
There was no history of teachers in Corrigan’s family while he was growing up. The seed, he said, was planted at St. Elizabeth. He recalled a math teacher, Chuck Haney, as being particularly influential.
“He taught me sophomore geometry and he was one of the first teachers where I understood that stuff,” said Corrigan, who graduated from St. E’s in 1980. “He let me get up and go around and help other kids, which didn’t happen much in those days. You stayed in your seat.”
Corrigan, 62, already knows the faculty and many of the IHM families, so that’s one thing he does not have to worry about. One of the main items on the agenda this year is Middle States accreditation, which is being headed up by Kathy Ifkovits, who will be the assistant principal this year.
Although he will be the principal at Immaculate Heart of Mary for just this year, he doesn’t view it as a caretaker position. He wants to make the school the best it can be and to serve the students however he can. Corrigan is always thinking of how he can improve things and tries to be proactive.
This year, there will be new devices in every classroom, and new fencing has been installed around the playground, which also has a new foam base. All of the remaining chalkboards were also removed. Corrigan is ready for the year to begin.
“For a while that quiet is nice, but you miss the kids,” he said. “The kids are the lifeblood of the school. It’s exciting to think of them coming back.”
He and his wife, Virginia, live in Newark and are members of St. John’s-Holy Angels Parish. They have three adult sons and two grandchildren, with another on the way.
He and his wife like to walk, and he enjoys cooking. He also said they are “big readers.”
