McGlynn Retiring After 50 Years at the Prep: Will Miss the Students, Who Have “Good Hearts and Good Minds”

Jim McGlynn has announced his retirement at the end of this year, his 50th teaching at the Prep. He arrived at 17th & Girard in 1975 to become a member of a very different Religious Studies Department. “We were only a few years removed from the days when religion was taught by each homeroom teacher,” McGlynn remembers. “We were still only meeting three days a cycle when I arrived and many were part-time in the department. We felt that it undermined the credibility of the discipline of religious studies and was a real challenge.”

As department chair, McGlynn pushed to have religious studies recognized as an equal counterpart to the other departments. Even into the 1990s, religious studies met less than the other departments, ceding class time to physical education and science labs. Today, religious studies is on equal footing with other disciplines and has nine full-time and four part-time faculty devoted to its teaching. 

In his long tenure, McGlynn created two classes which were mainstays in the Prep curriculum: Church History for juniors and Christian Thought for seniors. He also was instrumental in the creation of the sex education program that students take as part of their religious studies classes. 

“In the late 1980s, then Principal Dan Brennan gathered a few of us together to talk about the importance of adding a sex ed component for students,” McGlynn says. “Eventually, Al Vernacchio ’82 and I went to the University of Pennsylvania and earned Master’s degrees in sex ed and created a curriculum for the Prep.”

Because of his experience in this area, McGlynn was later approached by students to create a space where LGBTQ+ students and allies could come together. The group met briefly in 2002 but disbanded after a year. It took another decade before the Breaking Barriers club as it is today was re-established.

“We did a better job of being more open and transparent about it,” McGlynn says of the relaunch. He and then counselor Amy Romm spoke to faculty, staff, parents, and alumni about the club. Now, teaming with Gina Gulli, Modern Language Chair, the club is a thriving part of the school community. 

McGlynn arrived at the Prep after spending nine years in formation to become an Augustinian priest. He says that his belief in the care for the individual, known in Jesuit schools as cura personalis, started there. After over a half century in the Prep classrooms, that has remained at his core.

Of the generations of Prep students who he has taught, McGlynn says, “They have good hearts and good minds. They are kind and generous, good-hearted and caring. It gives me great hope that there is a possibility of gradually changing our world.” 

He credits the popular Kairos retreats with having an incredible impact on the school community. He is also grateful to colleagues over the years who have become friends. In addition to Gulli, McGlynn mentions former Prep teachers Jim O’Brien ’62 (“the best, he helped me to be accepted here when I arrived”), “Brother” Ken Kania (“a special person, knows more theology than anybody I know. He has an incredible mastery of knowledge, a true Renaissance man”) and Steve Oldham (“he was courageous and honorable. He was often prophetic when challenging administration”). 

Now, after 50 years, he is moving into retirement, taking his daily baseball trivia questions, and forced choice class experiments with him. Jim, we wish you the best in your retirement and your life’s journeys. Thank you for your dedication to Prep students and colleagues.