St. Timothy Middle School and St. Thomas the Apostle School in are combining for certain administrative purposes beginning with the 2018-19 academic year, and has announced two West Hartford residents who will serve as associate principals at each school.

Submitted

The parishes of St. Timothy and St. Thomas the Apostle, along with Principal Colleen DiSanto, happily announce the new associate principals at St. Timothy Middle School and St. Thomas the Apostle School.

Thomas Menner is joining St. Timothy Middle School as the associate principal and Janet Cashman will serve as associate principal at St. Thomas the Apostle School. In January, the Archdiocese of Hartford announcing that the schools would be combining some of their administrative functions, under the leadership of DiSanto.

Menner is eager to begin this new part of his journey in Catholic education at St. Timothy’s. He has spent the past 22 years as an English teacher at East Catholic High School, seven of those as chair of the English department. He earned his B.A. in English and Spanish at John Carroll University, a Jesuit college in Cleveland.

After graduation, Menner entered the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and served for two years in Milwaukee, working in parish outreach, and as a recreation therapist for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease. He worked in nursing homes for seven years as a therapeutic recreation director and recreation department head. In 1993, Menner responded to a call to teach. He returned to school, completing Connecticut’s Alternate Route to Certification in 1993, and earned his M.A. in English from Trinity College in 1996.

Menner is a long-time resident of West Hartford, where he lives with his wife, Mary Kay Fenton, and his daughters MaryGrace and Molly. An avid runner, Menner has completed numerous half marathons, marathons, and ultramarathons. He has qualified for the 2019 Boston Marathon.

Janet Cashman is excited to join the leadership team at St. Thomas the Apostle School. She has been part of the school community for 16 years, first as a parent, and for the last 11 years as the school librarian. She also enjoys working with the Kindergarten each week as well as moderating after-school clubs. She was the school’s chairperson of the recent NEASC re-accreditation and recently completed the Catholic School Leadership Certificate from Creighton University.

Cashman graduated from Fairfield University with a B.A. in psychology and English, and went on to earn a M.Ed. in secondary education at Xavier University. She began her teaching career in Cincinnati Public Schools and then worked in a suburban public school as a middle school English teacher. After moving to Connecticut, Cashman worked as a writing teacher at St. Timothy Middle School. She joined the St. Thomas the Apostle School community in 2007 as the school librarian and enjoys putting her faith and her language arts background into action each day.

Cashman lives in West Hartford with her husband, Christian. Their sons, Paul and Matthew, attend Jesuit colleges in the Midwest, their son John attends Northwest Catholic and their youngest, Joey, is a seventh grader at St. Timothy Middle School.

Both Cashman and Menner look forward to sharing their experience, their faith, and their passion for education with the communities of St. Timothy’s and St. Thomas the Apostle.

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