Sam Torres is new principal of Bishop Walsh

As Sam Torres begins his new role as principal of Bishop Walsh School in Cumberland, the parishioner of Ss. Peter and Paul in Cumberland said he is looking forward to a new approach to the curriculum the school will introduce this year.
Using a flexible schedule that will provide double class periods on certain days, teachers will have more opportunities for in-depth lessons using a variety of resources, he said.
“Instead of being confined to 40 minutes, they’ll have the opportunity to cover material in one day that would otherwise take two or three,” he said.
The new scheduling will also allow for new “mini-courses” in personal finance, health, creative writing, modern dance and a course about the life and times of Bishop James E. Walsh, M.M., a Cumberland native who spent 12 years in a Chinese communist prison.
Mr. Torres plans to expand the outreach programs at Bishop Walsh in keeping with the school’s mission to inculcate a sense of Christian service in students. The school serves students in grades pre-k-12.
Mr. Torres has taught at Bishop Walsh for 11 years and is the former assistant principal for the high school. Before coming to the Cumberland school, he taught in West Virginia.
A Los Angeles native, Mr. Torres is the first lay principal in the school’s history. He will be working with the school’s president, Sister Phyliss McNally, S.S.N.D., president, as Bishop Walsh adapts a president-principal leadership model.
Mr. Torres holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from California State University in Los Angeles and a master’s degree in education from Frostburg State University. He is currently a doctoral student at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.