Concord School Board’s newest member, Mike Malooley, firmly believes that a strong partnership between school and home is the key to ensuring students’ success.
“Education is a community affair and, when held to high standards, students are far more capable of achieving excellence than they often get credit for. This, however, can only be achieved when their support network of parents, teachers and administrators have a relationship built on trust and a common goal,” he said.
Malooley was elected to the school board in November and took the Oath of Office during the regularly scheduled board meeting on Monday, January 9, 2023.
He is a 2000 graduate of Snider High School in Fort Wayne and holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Management and a minor in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University. He moved to Elkhart in 2014 when he was hired by the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Department.
Malooley and his wife, Vicky, have two children: Analise, a third grader, and Solomon, age 2. Vicky is a high school teacher.
Malooley currently works as a Quality Assurance and Training Coordinator for Elkhart County Court Services, a role that includes providing for the training needs of the Juvenile Detention Center and Juvenile Probation staff. Before that, he worked for more than 15 years in Law Enforcement and Corrections, most recently with the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office.
Through his career and his volunteer efforts as a camp counselor, coach, and Sunday school teacher, Malooley has found a variety of ways to give back to the Elkhart community. He is actively involved in the family’s church as a Deacon and Sunday School teacher, and volunteers every summer with Prairie Camp’s family camp.
“The reward of investing time and energy into young people has always been found in running into those same kids years later and, in many cases, working alongside them as they take over the same roles,” he said.
He encourages parents to work alongside educators to support their children, and to recognize that the community’s strength comes from working together for the common good.
“Simply put, a strong alliance between parents, teachers and administrators can produce far greater results in the classroom than can ten times their number of DOE bureaucrats in Washington and Indianapolis combined,” Malooley said.