By Nick Mattera
Niagara Gazette
NIAGARA FALLS —
When Phil Mohr, retires later this year, the Niagara Falls School District will be looking to replace more than 30 years of experience and a self-described “workaholic.”
Mohr, who began his career in 1975 as a special education teacher and worked in that capacity for nearly a dozen years at several different schools, including Maple Avenue and Niagara Street, before becoming an administrator in 1987, working as a vice-principal or principal at Harry F. Abate, LaSalle Middle and LaSalle Senior High Schools. In 2000, Mohr was appointed the first Chief Educational Administrator at the new Niagara Falls High School.
“I am enormously proud of the career I’ve had here,” said Mohr, who is now the district’s administrator for human resources. “I can’t imagine working in any other district.”
Reminiscing about his past positions, Mohr described each one with a deep knowledge and understanding of the many lives he has touched and legacy he may have left on the school district.
Working in the classroom as a special education teacher, Mohr explained the feeling of watching a student walk across the stage earning his or her diploma. Something he said wasn’t always a guarantee.
“As a teacher, it is a indescribable feeling to see a student defy the odds and graduate with a regents diploma,” Mohr said. “I absolutely loved being in the classroom for that reason. I loved the time that I was with kids and the time that I spent just teaching.”
At a recent school board meeting, longtime board member Don King publicly thanked Mohr for his many years of service to the district, including most notably his work as the first CEA of the new Niagara Falls High School.
“The high school position was hard work, but it was a lot of fun. It was like living in a fish bowl that first year. There was a lot of hype and attention, I think it was a real proud moment for the community,” he said. “You kind of look back and you hope that you have made a contribution in everything that you’ve done and I can say we really did have quite an impact and changed a lot of what needed to be changed at the high school level in Niagara Falls at that time.”
Mohr joked the most trying moment of combining the two former high schools into one new one had little to do with bringing two groups of students together, but bringing the teachers together.
“The closing of the two high schools and combining them into one was not an easy undertaking and not so much for the kids, but for the staff,” he said. “The community was worried the kids wouldn’t get along and there would be fights, interestingly it was more difficult for the staff.”
Through his years in education, Mohr said he has encountered thousands of students, teachers, parents or administrators, all of whom he hopes he has been able to impact or influence in some way.
“I get a real charge by knowing that at least I had an impact on somebody’s life, enough that they would remember who I was,” he said. “On a more professional level, a personal goal has always been to help and nurture teachers and administrators. I hope to think I have a whole flock of employees that I have mentored and I have had an impact on.”
Mohr, who through his career managed a high school with a student population of more than 2,000 students and as administrator for human resources managed around 1,500 staff members said the high-stress, high-demand jobs led to some health concerns earlier this year, which played a role in his retirement.
“My health issues are certainly work-related. I’m you’re atypical heart patient and I asked my doctor ‘So is my job killing me’ and he told me that’s a question I’d have to answer,” Mohr said. “Whenever you have a serious health issue, you stop and reflect and begin to sort out your priorities and begin to see what is important. Really it stopped me in my tracks.”
Mohr is back at 100 percent and said he is now ready to spend time with family and enjoy retirement. His wife recently retired from Lewiston-Porter Central Schools and he has four children and a granddaughter who he plans to spend plenty of time with in the coming years.
Mohr will work in an interim basis until his replacement is found, likely by the end of the year.
When asked what type of advice he would give to a new teacher or administrator, Mohr said when you are in education you have the tremendous potential to influence someone’s future and that must always be in a teacher’s mind.
“When you go into education, you don’t truly understand the impact you can have on a child’s life. It’s almost immeasurable, there are no tests or benchmarks. Sometimes I like to say in the morning that we are going to change the world,” Mohr said. “And in a strange way every day we have an opportunity to change a little bit of the world.”
