A Q&A with Mary Kay Connerton

To learn more about the program and what Mary Kay hopes to accomplish as it expands, we recently took the time to catch up with her and ask a few questions. Here’s what she told us:

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How did you get involved with this program? You have a background as a teacher, correct?

This is a brand-new program and really the first time where a position like this has been established in a Central Office in Maryland. This has been a really amazing journey directed solely by the needs of my students and their families.

I started with AACPS 15 years ago as a special educator at the middle school level, and within the first two months of teaching, I nearly quit because I was feeling like a failure. I was teaching eighth grade language arts and our average for the first marking period was a 24%. I was devastated because I always thought teaching was my calling and my dream — I’ve always wanted to be a teacher and never considered another profession outside of teaching.

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As a last resort, I started implementing 5-10 minutes a day of yoga and mindfulness and meditation practices. And I joke now that sometimes I think maybe I was really doing it to save myself in those moments where I had a lot of struggles within the classroom with behavior and self-regulation for my students.

By the third marking period of that year, our average jumped to an 85%. My co-teacher and I developed a strong cohesion with the students, and we were soon asked to serve as model team teachers. It was an incredible journey to witness the impact of building relationships and encouraging students to practice self-regulation and wellness. I noticed positive changes not only in the classroom but also in students’ confidence, interactions, and involvement in extracurricular activities.

I began expanding these wellness practices to my other co-taught classes and, after moving to Bates Middle School, shared them with colleagues as a tool to prepare students for learning. I collected data through surveys, academic tracking, and referrals — and I was consistently observing positive outcomes. I realized that taking just 5-10 minutes a day for these practices helped students retain more information.

I also noticed students with autism and Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) felt unenthusiastic about certain physical education classes, so I spent the summer of 2014 writing an 82-page curriculum focused on yoga and mindfulness, incorporating practices from my own training as a yoga teacher and mindfulness coach.

Through my connections with social workers, I was given the opportunity to pilot this curriculum as a behavioral interventionist at Annapolis High School. The program took off and is now offered at all 14 county high schools, with two additional courses and extensive professional development for teachers. To date, I’ve trained more than 30 teachers, 16 of whom are currently teaching the course.

The course soon morphed into a program because we had students who were saying, “Could you come and do a meditation before the football game?” or “Can we do something with younger siblings and parents over the weekend?” 

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Tell me a little bit about the program.

The program has four main pillars. The first pillar is Wellness in the Classroom, which I push for 5-10 minutes per session, working with teachers on wellness practices that they eventually take over themselves. A study from two years ago with an Advanced Placement (AP) physics class showed remarkable results. Annapolis High School students who participated in meditation sessions scored 10% higher than their counterparts, 20% above the AACPS average, and three times higher than the global average for achieving a score of 5 on the AP exam. Notably, the highest-scoring students were minority females. These brief sessions boosted not only academics but also students' confidence for SATs, ACTs, college, and job interviews.

The second pillar is Wellness Enrichment. I partner with the Office of Student Services to run wellness groups tailored to specific needs such as support for teen moms, anxiety, grief, freshmen adjustment, addiction in the home, and eating disorders. I teach self-regulation strategies while counselors or therapists handle therapeutic aspects. Last year, students in these groups saw a 54% drop in referrals within one quarter.

The third pillar is Employee Wellness. Each month, we offer wellness practices for teachers and staff, with community partners providing services. This includes options like chair massages, financial planning advice, physical therapy consultations, skin cancer screenings, and flu/COVID vaccine clinics. The goal is to combat compassion fatigue and model self-care for both staff and students, creating a supportive environment for everyone.

The fourth pillar is Community Wellness. We organize three large-scale wellness events each year such as a fall flag football tournament, a winter yoga and wellness fair, and a spring 5K. We partner with local organizations to support these events, engaging the whole community in wellness activities.

As the district’s wellness coordinator, I’m tasked with expanding this program to all high schools. I’m currently working with wellness liaisons from each secondary school, and I’ve been conducting listening tours across all 21 schools in the system to gather insights from students and community groups. My goal for 2024-2025 is to lay a strong foundation for this districtwide wellness initiative. 

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Speaking of goals, what are some of your goals, both in the long term and in the short term, for this program?

That is a great question. Starting with the long-term vision, I aim to have a wellness site coordinator at every high school in the district within five years. After that, I’d like to extend wellness programming to middle schools and, eventually, elementary schools. My ultimate goal is to reach students as early as possible, as I believe in the importance of early intervention with wellness practices. While my journey has taken me up through high school, I'd love to return to my roots in elementary education.

In the short term, I’m working with wellness liaisons at each secondary school, using them as points of contact to share wellness strategies and opportunities tailored to each school’s unique needs. My recent listening tour helped me gather valuable insights from these schools, and tomorrow, I’m excited to kick off our first group meeting to foster camaraderie and team building across the district.

One of my primary goals is to establish a concrete definition of "wellness" for the district. The listening tour offered a grassroots perspective, where I asked staff what wellness means to them and what they want to see in their schools. This feedback will help create a definition that reflects our core values and drives our mission and vision statement. Annapolis High School's current wellness mission — "Wellness is the thread that unites us" — may be adapted district-wide. The listening tour will conclude in early December, after which I’ll analyze the responses to guide our next steps.

Additionally, I’m co-chairing the Student Wellness Council, with two student representatives from each high school. We'll meet quarterly, gathering student insights and celebrating their contributions at the end of the year. I’m also co-chairing the district's Wellness Council alongside key leaders like Jodi Risse from Food and Nutrition Services and Christiana Walsh from Health and PE.

Another priority is fine-tuning the wellness class originally focused on yoga, which has grown substantially. I’ve trained over 30 teachers across multiple schools, and with the increased demand, I’m now focused on supporting these teachers more comprehensively.

I also aim to address teacher social-emotional learning and compassion fatigue, especially to support retention by raising awareness of trauma-sensitive practices for themselves and their students.

Finally, I’ll serve as a liaison between the district and groups like the Anne Arundel County Department of Health, the American Heart Association, and Northern Lights for Substance Abuse Awareness. This includes leading a new initiative, "You Belong Here," which will host county-wide wellness events in partnership with schools and families.

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Do you anticipate any big challenges as this program becomes established?

I think the challenge right now is getting the positions established. It all comes down to funding and budgeting. I feel blessed and appreciative of all the people who have been open to this, and I hope it stays like that. I know I’ve said several times how beautiful this journey has been, and that’s not to say there haven’t been hiccups, struggles, and moments of doubt and uncertainty. Some people weren’t even sure about taking up class time to do these practices or if they were even effective, but I hope that we can continue to get people to see the value in them. I think that will happen the more people experience it for themselves.

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Do you have a need for parent involvement and volunteers?

Yes, always. I love Dr. Bedell’s #BePresent initiative. This was established nearly two years ago, and it’s all about getting volunteers into the school building to be a presence for and build relationships with students. It’s an easy process to get vetted and approved in the schools, and I’ve had so many volunteers help out with different wellness events and guest speakers for my wellness enrichment groups.

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What do you wish everyone knew about wellness in the scope of education and child development?

My goal for all students — past, present, and future — is to understand that their wellness is the foundation for their success, both professionally and personally. Right now, their primary job is to be a student, but as they move into the workforce, the same principle applies: To be effective in any role, they need a strong foundation of wellness. This wellness also impacts their relationships and their ability to self-regulate, as it begins with an awareness of what's happening internally.

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Beyond that, I want them to realize that they have control over their own wellness. Often, people feel out of control because, in life, there's so little we can actually control. But there is empowerment in recognizing that, while we can’t control everything, we can control ourselves—our boundaries, our time management, and what we choose to take in. This includes not only food and exercise but also media, conversations, and the people we surround ourselves with.

I want students, teachers, and everyone to find peace and strength in this sense of personal control. Wellness, to me, is about standing firmly in that place of empowerment and knowing that we can all belong, grow, and succeed.