Michelle O’Neal’s 25-year career as an educator has been a colorful one.
Until four years ago, O’Neal was an art teacher. With her husband in the military, O’Neal taught at many different schools, from New York to Oklahoma to Hawaii. In spite of the moves, the O’Neal family has always valued a Catholic education.
In 2015, the family returned to the small town of Paris, and O’Neal began working at St. Joseph School. She became the principal in 2021.
O’Neal has faced a host of different challenges as an educator — whether it was finding funding as an art teacher or tackling the pandemic and economic challenges as principal of the Paris parochial school.
“We are the oldest continuously running elementary school in the state of Arkansas, since 1879,” O’Neal said. “We have our parish’s support, but we still struggle with enrollment. When you have low enrollment, it costs more to educate. So that’s always a challenge — keeping the education affordable for our parishioners and working economically is important to us.”
O’Neal has also worked to make sure that technology and social media do not negatively impact her students and their ability and willingness to learn. That’s where having an art background comes in.
“I’m the fun art person,” she said with a laugh. “I can get the kids in there, and we can always have a good time making some art and enjoying time together.”
But it’s the creativity and outside-the-box thinking of many students that have motivated O’Neal to persist throughout her career.
“It was always inspirational to me, to amplify my creativity off of theirs,” she said.
In addition to drawing inspiration from her students, O’Neal’s faith has spurred her onward.
“Our family, we practice our faith. We attend church on Sunday. Our kids went to Catholic schools, our friends, the families we hung out with, our social network, generally speaking, are all associated with the school and the Church,” she said. “It helps when you truly believe in the mission of the school. And I truly believe that the most important mission of the Catholic Church is Catholic education, because, not to be cheesy, but that’s the future, and you’ve got to get them while they’re young.
“I think if an educator believes that, that’s why they’re working at the school — that’s why you work there. I’ve worked in both public and private schools. The private experience is really special. We pray every morning all together — it’s the way we start the day as a school. It’s a very special experience. So if you’re blessed enough to get to work at a Catholic school, I think that makes it easier to come in on a daily basis when things are really hard.”
O’Neal’s contract ends July 31. She’ll work on some projects at the school over the summer, but she’s looking forward to having more time to help her aging parents.
“Then I’ll just wait and see what door is opened next for me,” she said. “God opens and closes the door, and I try to be aware of that. He’ll provide something for me.”
