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By Chris McManes
DeMatha Communications Manager
For those of you who think you know Dr. Daniel McMahon ’76, DeMatha’s 25-year principal, here’s a short quiz for you.
Which of these positions has Dan never held: teacher, moderator, janitor, coach, department chair? The correct answer is none of the above. Dan has held each of these, either at DeMatha or elsewhere.
Now, if the question is, which of these jobs does he like the best, the answer is easy –teacher.
Teaching is such an integral part of Dan’s DNA that he said he wouldn’t have accepted Father Bill Sullivan’s March 2000 offer to become DeMatha’s principal if he hadn’t been allowed to continue instructing.
“I told him I wanted to teach a class, and he said, ‘we really don’t want you to teach class. We think it’s a full-time job,’ which it is,” Dan said. “I said I know that, but I really think I’ll be more comfortable and will feel better if I can teach.
“And I told him it was sort of a deal-breaker.”
Father Sullivan acquiesced and allowed Dan to continue sharing his knowledge and challenging students. He is now in his 44th year (41 at DeMatha) in the classroom. The subjects he has most recently taught include world literature, mythology and the DeMatha Way.
Dan initially taught here from 1981-97. He served the next three years as principal of the upper school (grades 9-12) at the Bullis School in Potomac, Md. He said the interview process to return to Hyattsville included gathering extensive references and undergoing several exhaustive, hours-long interviews.
After being informed that he was the school’s top choice to succeed John Moylan – who served as DeMatha principal for 32 years (1968-2000) – Dan called his wife, Donna. He just wanted to make she was on board with the impending change in their lives.
“The notion that I had been offered the job and wasn’t going to take it was probably inconceivable to [Father Sullivan], and somewhat to me,” he said. “But he’s not married, and married people don’t make big decisions without checking with your spouse … one more time.”
Dan thinks that teaching improves his ability to administer the day-to-day operations of the school, help set schedules, shape the curriculum and understand what faculty members are experiencing.
“I think it helps me to be more attentive to what the instructors are going through,” he said before pointing out that in the gospels, Jesus is called “teacher” 66 times.
“That’s more than he’s called anything else,” he said. “So, if you want to imitate Jesus, be a teacher.”
Dan earned his bachelor’s degree from Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md., and added a master’s and Ph.D. in English from the University of Maryland. He has reviewed more than 25 books for The Washington Post and received five National Endowment for the Humanities grants.
Mount St. Mary’s honored Dan last June with the Simon Bruté Medal as a "graduate who has rendered outstanding and meritorious service to the Church, state, nation and our fellow citizens.”
Dan worked as a janitor for five years at three local parishes (St. Camillus, Holy Redeemer College Park and Our Lady of Sorrows).
“That was an incredibly valuable experience,” he said. “I got to see how a school works from the ground up, and I came to realize that the people who make things move are the maintenance and administrative staff.
“They’re the ones that make it possible for all of us to do the things that we do.”
Dan has coached basketball and softball at DeMatha and girls soccer at St. Mark the Evangelist. When he finally retires, he said he would like to return to coaching. Not as a head coach, but a “freshman soccer assistant.”
Regarding low points of the past quarter century, Dan doesn’t enjoy telling someone that they have to leave DeMatha.
“It’s painful to me whenever I have to let a teacher or student go because I wonder if there’s something else I could have done, some way I could have helped that person perform better and succeed,” he said.
Fortunately, those days are rare on Madison Street. And he thinks brighter days are ahead, particularly with the late spring opening of the Cross Center for Engineering, Arts and Robotics. Once the building is occupied, work can begin on the remodeling and expansion of the cafeteria, aka the Antler Room.
“I love robotics and engineering, and I think that art is really a significant thing for kids,” Dan said. “And I’d love for us to have a black-box theatre or an auditorium to show off the theatrical and musical skills that many of our kids and our teachers have.
“So, some of our growth is physical plant, but I also think we have really significant curricular and service-based things we can accomplish. One thing I know for sure is that I love coming to work every day.”
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