As Chris Luther approaches his 30th year of working at the Morgan School, he sat down with the Morgan PawPrint to reflect on his current role as assistant principal and discussed some of the misconceptions of his job. 

Although many students may run into Luther on disciplinary occasions, he believes his job is much more than that. 

His job is not just about helping to oversee the school or to punish people, but rather is about connecting with students and making sure the school is a place where they feel comfortable to learn. “[My favorite part of my job] is when I see a student that’s having a bad day or [has]  made a poor decision, and I try to approach them with kindness and encourage them. Even though there might be consequences, this is only a day, and this is how you learn. So I hope that it at least makes it a bit better for those kids,” said Luther. 

Luther didn’t always plan on being a teacher or a principal when he was younger. He was thinking about becoming a veterinarian. After graduating from Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire with a degree in biology, he applied to veterinary school and was put on the waiting list. While he was waiting to hear back, he did reptile shows. “I would bring my reptiles to these shows, and I was having so much fun that I was questioning whether or not I wanted to be a veterinarian,” said Luther. 

He decided to explore teaching, and did a one-year program and got his teaching certificate and master’s degree. He then started teaching biology at Morgan in 1996. “I love bio, and that’s what I miss. Once in a while, kids will ask me questions, and I love helping kids love science,” Luther said. 

While teaching, he became the science department chairperson and gained experience in supervision. Luther then started as the assistant principal in 2019, and continues today, with next year marking 30 years at Morgan. 

With big changes like transitioning from a teacher to a vice principal, there are things that are going to be hard. For Luther, at first, it was his relationship with the students. “I felt like I used to be a teacher that students would go to, and I had a really great relationship with my students in class when I was teaching, so the shift to assistant principal was difficult because you’re kind of seen as the person that’s the bad guy,” Luther said.

His love for biology started at a very young age when his mom took him to a garden center in Glastonbury, where he grew up. He also worked at Magic Pet Shop, starting when he was 16, up until he was in his 30s. He has had reptiles and animals of all sorts his whole adult life, like alligators to anacondas and tarantulas, and snakes. “Right now, I have about 50 things in my basement, but my favorites are always our dog, Theo, and I do really like some of the geckos, like the lychianis, it’s giant,” he said. 

Though his sons, Ryan and Samuel, who are twins, aren’t in the house currently because they are away at Saint Anslem’s College working to graduate this year, they also enjoy having the animals at the house. “With one son, he’s a bio major and enjoys them just as much as I do. The other, not as much, but he tolerates them. Mrs. Luther thinks they’re cool,” he said. 

Luther and his wife Laura met at Saint Anselm’s College and have been together ever since. Laura is a Spanish teacher at the Morgan School and has been working there for almost as long as Luther.   “I think it’s great. I mean, we’ve worked here for a very long time. You never see us together in school, but we love the kids, and we have gone to sports games together since we were in our 20s, and I think we work really well together,” Luther said.

Though he finds his job very rewarding, there are certainly parts to it that are difficult. Luther finds having to be the one to give the consequences or punishments to kids to be the hardest part of his job.  “You never want to be that person, or the ‘bad guy.” You never get used to it, and I do care, so it sort of bothers me a little bit at times, but that’s still always the hardest for me,” said Luther. 

While there are many things that Chris Luther does not enjoy about his job, like giving punishments and consequences, the things he does enjoy, like getting to connect with students and help them, greatly outweighs the bad things.