On Thursday, March 21, the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Board of Education announced that Dr. Warren Hynes, current assistant principal of Westfield High School, will assume the role as the SPFHS Principal at the start of the 2024-2025 school year. Hynes will take over for Dr. David Heisey, who will be retiring at the end of the current school year after 25 years. Though Hynes will have big shoes to fill, he is excited to take on this new role as principal of SPFHS.
“[Scotch Plains-Fanwood] is a tremendous school and it is an honor to have the opportunity to support the leadership in this school,” Hynes told The Fanscotian. “I know that there’s a lot of great people in the school and in the community.”
Hynes has been serving as the assistant principal in Westfield High School since 2018, creating bonds with students and teachers alike. Before becoming an assistant principal, Hynes taught English and Journalism at WHS for 14 years, while also writing as a freelance journalist on topics surrounding baseball and education. During his time teaching at WHS, Hynes was the advisor of the school’s newspaper, the Hi’s Eye, and various peer-mentoring programs. He also taught at two schools in the Boston area.
“I was one of those folks who didn’t jump into administration quite as quickly because I love teaching. I just reached a point in my educational career where I was ready to broaden my definition of what the classroom is,” Hynes said.
Though he loved his work inside the classroom, Hynes decided that in 2018 it was time to switch roles from teaching to assistant principal. A change he believes was already in process while he was still in the classroom.
“I was doing a lot of leadership as it was, even though I was still a teacher, so I was ready to think of the whole school as partly my classroom and become assistant principal,” Hynes said.
With this new move, Hynes is enlarging his impact on how he can change the lives of students and teachers at SPFHS.
“I’m taking a different step becoming a principal. I’m broadening the sense of how I can help lead a school community,” Hynes said.
Hynes does not want to come into SPFHS and make disruptive changes; rather, he will continue to help the school grow and become a better place for young adults.
“Schools tell a story in their history. They tell a story of who they are, what they want to be, what they have been,” Hynes said. “Part of the principal’s job is to help a school to continue to develop its story.”
Hynes attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he received a bachelor’s degree in Journalism & Mass Communication. Along with his bachelor’s degree, Hynes received his masters in American studies and his administrative certification, from the University of Massachusetts–Boston Honors College and Montclair State University respectively. He recently graduated from Seton Hall with a doctorate in educational leadership.
After graduating from UNC Chapel Hill, Hynes went straight into the workforce as a reporter and columnist writing for the Staten Island Advance, a hobby he still holds near and dear to his heart.
“When I was a teacher, I was also helping advise the school newspaper,” Hynes said. “I love reporting and I love writing.”
Along with journalism, Hynes loves to run, swim, go to the beach and watch baseball, specifically his favorite team the New York Yankees. Hynes has been married to his wife Amy for 28 years and is the father of two girls, Chelsea and Katie, and the family has two dogs.
