Tech VP moved to Lynn English

LYNN – Longtime Lynn Vocational and Technical Institute Assistant Director Joseph O’Hagan has been given a temporary change of scenery in an effort to provide more support for English High School Principal Andrew Fila.Superintendent Catherine Latham confirmed this week that O’Hagan was transferred to LEHS last Friday to temporarily serve as a third vice principal for Fila, who sources say has been petitioning the department for months to bolster his administrative staff.”I have been asking the superintendent for additional help for some time and she did some things over at Tech that got Mr. O’Hagan over here,” Fila said Tuesday. “I never turn down an offer for more help.”While the student body at LVTI has been declining slightly in recent years, English has been expanding rapidly and is now the city’s largest school with nearly 1,700 students.Latham said the move was only temporary, but did not set a timetable for O’Hagan’s departure from English and did not say whether he would return to LVTI once his assignment is completed.LVTI Director James Ridley said he understands and supports the superintendent’s decision, but hopes to have his second in command back before too long.”It is supposed to be a short term move so we are hoping to see him back here soon,” he said. “He is greatly missed already. He has a long history with this school – he has been here 20-plus years.”Latham declined to comment on why Fila was given a third vice principal or why O’Hagan was selected for the position, but did vehemently deny rumors circulating among parents and teachers that O’Hagan was escorted from the building and denied access to his computers on Friday.”It is a personnel matter so I cannot comment. All I will say is that I transfer people all of the time to different positions,” she said. “It truly is nothing more serious than that.”While on the surface the transfer leaves Ridley with only one assistant director, Caroline Hall, Ridley said he would promote a department head to fill O’Hagan’s role until he returned from English.”We didn’t really lose a position because he will be replaced by a department head who will step up and take his place in a temporary position,” he said. “But although we won’t be missing him in a body, in his knowledge, experience and spirit we will.”