Iconic St Mel's College Longford back in a good place as principal Declan Rowley bows out

Mention St Mel’s College and the name of Declan Rowley won’t be too far behind. A mainstay behind what is undoubtedly one of the midlands’ most distinguished second level establishments for the past three and a half decades, the Killoe native is this week looking ahead to his next chapter after stepping down from his role as principal.

The father of three announced in May his plans to retire and hand over his head teacher reins to Coláiste Mhuire Mullingar principal Malachy Flanagan.

Three months on, Declan sat down this week with the Leader to reflect on an unblemished career and retirement few, if any, would begrudge him.

It’s a far cry from the days of September 1976 when the outgoing St Mel’s chief first filed through the doors of his then alma mater as a shy, but enthusiastic 12-year-old first year pupil.

“I came back as the first PE teacher in the school when I arrived in 1990,” he recalled vividly. “I was in that role for 22 years and then I took over as principal which was very unusual.”

Unexpected or not, it was an elevation that posed plenty of challenges for a man who had little or no experience at senior educational managerial level.

There was a sense, be it from inside the corridors of the historic college or outside it, that parents had been, as he put it “voting with their feet” which inevitably led to a steady decline in enrolments.

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Rowley is, however, a positive thinker, your stereotypical pragmatist. Sitting hands clasped, sipping on a cup of tea inside the doors of Longford boutique Fabiani last Friday, he told of how he quickly set about re-establishing the Mel’s brand not just in Longford but across the wider midlands region.

“We were going through sort of challenging times with numbers and situations like that,” he confided.

“Sometimes perception is reality. We started losing students from surrounding areas that we should have been getting.

“I think it was a combination of a lack of confidence in our own school to an extent and other schools getting into the market and challenging us.

“We had to step up to that mark and push again and get our standards very high. We did that in many areas, we got confidence and trust back.

“Parents had been voting with their feet and now we are sort of averaging 110 boys per year when, in my first year, in 2013 we were down to 67.

“We have and always had a very strong staff and results were very good and I think past pupils will attest to that.

“There was always a strong academic, sporting tradition in Mel’s and it was getting those pillars back in play being competitive on the sports fields but also in making sure our results stayed up there.”

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Those endeavours have not come without plenty of educational hiccups along the way.

The onset of Coronavirus in March 2020 and more recent Russian invasion of Ukraine brought with it “chronic” issues that would test even the most well-oiled of second level establishments.

But in Rowley, St Mel’s and its board of management had a progressive, experienced and reliable pair of hands at its helm to ensure the school’s development continued on an upward trajectory.

Infrastructurally, new soccer, GAA and astro turf pitches came on stream while the school shook hands with local authority officials in brokering the onset of a new vista to the St Mel’s Road view as part of the county town’s ongoing regeneration plan.

Closer to the classroom, new subjects like physical education and Agricultural Science to Leaving Cert level were introduced while new measures headed by the likes of one hour classes from a previous 40 minute system and a switch from half day Wednesdays to a more universally accepted Friday finishing time had Rowley’s fingerprints all over them.

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By his own admission, one of his most treasured highlights came in 2015 when St Mel’s marked its 150th anniversary and what he described as being an “inspired decision” in asking former Mel’s principal Denis Glennon to pen ‘Selected Memories: 1865-2015’, a book Rowley had little hesitation in paying homage to.

Having spearheaded the vast bulk of those modifications and brought pupil numbers back up to in or around the 600 mark, there was more than a tinge of surprise when news broke earlier this summer of his impending retirement.

You get the impression, though, that here is a man who at 58 years of age, is fully intent on bowing out at the top of a profession he has dedicated almost all his adult life to.

“I just felt it was time,” he said. I have 35 years done, nine of those as principal. The school is in a good place and I just feel it’s a good time for me to leave and for somebody younger to come in and create energy.

“People said to me: ‘Would you not stay for five more years and get your full pension and I am thinking you know the next five years hopefully I will be healthy and be able to do lots of things.

“Obviously the family have been in second place for quite some time with regards your time and hopefully I can spend more time with my girls.”

The reference to “my girls” is symptomatic of a man who clearly cherishes his family. When thoughts turn to spending more time with his beloved wife Rosemarie, Rowley proudly describes how his three daughters Nicole, Eimear and Shona are keeping the family name flying in their respective chosen careers.

It’s a focus, the outgoing St Mel’s principal knows, that will take time to adjust to as he looks forward to embarking on his next chapter away from the office and school budgets.

“It will certainly be a big change because I loved the dynamic and the challenge of the job ,” he said.

“It wasn’t just 9-4, it was basically 24/7. I would be on the laptop at home at nine or ten o’clock at night organising stuff for the next day.

“If parents sent me emails at nine o’clock at night I would answer them. You were always on the job and that’s the way I felt as I always liked to feel I was on top of the job by instantly replying or dealing with situations.”

Despite being technically ‘retired’ Rowley told of how he intends to remain on to oversee the implementation of one of his key lasting legacies-the projected €6.5m refurbishment of the school’s historic 1865 building.

When finished, the end product will add two special needs classes, two general classrooms, a Home Economics room, multi-media/computer room, science lab, music room as well as a design/communications graphic room.

Away from those duties, the Killoe GAA chairman is planning on throwing more of his weight behind his other role as chairman of Killoe Development Group which, in recent months, has been to the fore in sourcing vital accommodation for displaced Ukrainian refugees.

One potential link he was keen to downplay was returning to the Longford managerial fold, close to two decades after first being appointed alongside former Westmeath and Carlow supremo Luke Dempsey.

“A lot of stuff happens in phases in your life and that phase of my life is over as far as I am concerned,” he said.

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His hopes in terms of his own club’s championship aspirations are more expectant than they are unhesitating.

“They will be there or thereabouts,” he said. It’s just is there enough hunger there to win a championship? Some of those lads have five championship medals in their pockets and maybe it’s not even them that needs the hunger, maybe it’s the younger lads who need to step up now and lead it.”

And it’s precisely that sense of guile and leadership the man at the centre of all things Killoe and St Mel’s will be taking with him as he deservedly takes his leave after three and a half decades of unstinting and consummate service.

Big shoes they undoubtedly will be to fill, they are ones Declan Rowley can stand tall in, safe in the knowledge that his job wasn’t just well done, it was beyond compare.