Dr. Anna Mahon: New Assistant Superintendent Combines Educational, Olympic Experiences

Anna Mahon was a Division I athlete at the University of Vermont. She threw the hammer 160 feet in practice.

If her coach was watching though, she dropped to 140 feet.

In meets, she managed only 120.

Before her junior year, Anna addressed her performance anxiety with the help of a sports psychologist.

She went on to compete in the 2004 Olympics, in Athens.

Two decades later, that athletic background — and her understanding of how human beings act, learn and grow —  stands Dr. Mahon in good stead.

Dr. Anna Mahon

The former psychology and English major — and Olympian — is Westport’s new assistant superintendent of schools for teaching and learning. She replaces Dr. Anthony Buono, who retired.

Mahon is a versatile athlete. In addition to track (hurdles, long jump, shot put), she was a 4-year swimmer at Stamford High. At UVM, a coach saw her potential as a hammer thrower.

But what she calls “significant performance anxiety” dogged her — and not just on the field. “I was not a good test taker. I got nervous with assessments,” she says.

She sought out noted sports psychologist Dr. Alan Goldberg. Her confidence — and distances — surged. She missed qualifying for the 1996 Olympics (where women’s hammer throw was an exhibition sport) by one spot.

She then followed several family members into teaching, and earned a master’s in education at Boston University.

She was hired as a Darien High School English teacher. But she missed competing, so she also trained for up to 25 hours a week with the Southern Connecticut State University coach.

She continued to work on the mental aspect of her sport. As she grew as a teacher, she used her own personal growth to help students through their own stresses.

Mahon and her husband Sean — a former high jumper on SCSU’s national championship team — bought a home in Orange.

The commute was tough. He was beginning his caeer as a physical education and health teacher at Amity Regional High, just 4 miles away (he is now the department chair), so she began teaching there too.

John Brady — a former administrator in Westport — took over as suprintendent for Amity Regional School District #5.

“He also brought the Westport concept of the 3 A’s — academics, arts and athletics — to the district,” Mahon notes. “He had a very strong vision of excellence.”

His support of her travel for her sport ws important as well, she says. From 2004 to 2012 she coached men’s and women’s throwers at Yale University. Her athletes set national and school records.

Mahon was named associate principal in 2010, and principal in 2015. Another superintendent during that time was former Westport administrator Chip Dumais.

Mahon — who had earned a doctorate — had no intention of leaving Amity. But an assistant superintendent position opened up in Brookfield. The opportunity to work in a variety of areas — curriculum, human resources, special education and more — was appealing.

Which brings her to her next exciting professional challenge: Westport.

“Anthony (Buono) left this office in tip-top shape,” Mahon says. “The curriculum documents are all online. I’m here to support that work.”

And take it to the next level. She looks forward to working on Westport’s AI initiative.

Westport is “a state and national leader” in examing the impact of artificial intelligence on teaching and learning, she says. Six groups are working on various elements, under superintendent Thomas Scarice’s direction.

“We’re examining everything, from vision and ethics to the impact on students and teachers,” Mahon adds.

She is excited too by the work CJ Shamas, Ashley Moran and others are doing in the area of growth mindset for continuous development. Their work can be scaled out to the entire district.

“My experience at the highest level of competitive sports has instilled in me a profound understanding of discipline, resilience and perseverance,” she says.

Those qualities “are eseental for fostering a growth mindset within our school community.”

Mahon believes that those and many other past experiences align with the Westport Public Schools’ “clear vision of good leadership.”

Since she began on July 1, she has met with principals, program leaders and coordinators. She’s met elementary school families too, as they check in at libraries for summer reading.

“It’s nice to start in July. But now I’m ready for school to start,” Mahon says.

Dr. Anna Mahon, in her Town Hall office. Her daughter’s swim posters are on the wall. (Photo/Dan Woog)

It will be an active fall. But Mahon has always been on the go.

Last year, her family went to Paris for the Olympics They were in the Stade de France — the same venue where in 2003 she placed 7th at the World Championship. (She finished in the mid-20s, out of 50, at the Olympics the following year.)

Mahon no longer competes. But she’s an avid spectator for her daughter Grace, a University of New Hampshire swimmer, and football-playing son Lance. After a post-grad year at Choate Rosemary Hall, he’ll play at the State University of New York-Stony Brook.

They (and their 2 dogs) enjoy getting away to their second home in Vermont, for skiing and snowmobiling.

From those sports to her younger years, as a swimmer and hammer thrower, Dr. Anna Mahon has been an individual sport athlete.

But a colleague who has worked with her since July 1 uses a team sport analogy to describe her impact on the Westport Public Schools.

He calls her “a grand slam.”

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