Eugene Field will have a new principal next school year as Scott Daly has been selected to be the principal at the elementary school for the 2023-24 school year.  Officially, his duties will begin July 1. 

Currently,  Daly is the computer teacher at Mexico Middle School. Prior to coming to Mexico, Daly taught middle school and high school business courses as well as high school government for 10 years at Hallsville and then became the high school principal at Hallsville for the last nine years. 

He graduated from Columbia College with a bachelor of arts in secondary business education and a bachelor of arts in business administration with an emphasis in management. He then earned a masters of education in athletic and activities administration from Williams Woods and then completed a specialists in educational leadership from there as well. During his time as a high school principal, he was a member of the Missouri Association of Secondary School Principals (MoASSP). He served as the NE Region president before becoming the NE Region representative on the board of directors for MoASSP. With his new position, he has reached out to MAESP for elementary principals to begin building a network of support with other elementary principals.

Daly did not take the traditional educational path. While attending night classes for business administration at Columbia College, he was working full time during the day and tried out substitute teaching. A middle school math teacher had a surgery that took him out of the classroom for several weeks, and he was asked to be the long term sub. He did everything the regular teacher does, including writing lesson plans, providing instruction to the whole class, helping struggling students, and grading, which made him realize he wanted to teach full time.  He chose business education, because he had so many of those courses completed already.

Scott has been married to wife, Bridget, for 16 years, and adopted her daughters, Katelyn, 23, and Abbey, 20. They also have a son together, Griffin, who is 13 and a seventh grader. Katelyn is in the United States Air Force, currently stationed in Las Vegas, married, and has a son, Jameson, who is 7 months old. 

Daly enjoys watching his children play sports or taking them hunting and fishing.  He also collects sports cards and it has become a family pastime favorite.

“I am sure it seems strange to many people that I would be interested in becoming an elementary principal after spending my entire career in secondary buildings,” said Daly, “but I believe this is the challenge I need in my career that will help me continue to learn and grow as an instructional leader. I will utilize my knowledge of middle school and high school curriculum to help us better prepare our elementary students for success at the next level, but most of all I am looking forward to the student to principal ratio of high fives dramatically increasing.”

“We are thrilled to have Scott Daly join us as principal for Eugene Field Elementary,” superintendent, Melissa Chastain, said.  “Mr. Daly has a proven track record of outstanding leadership.  I am confident that he will continue to build on the culture and student success established at Eugene Field."