Bellefonte Area School District superintendent Michelle Saylor to step down
Bellefonte Area School District Superintendent Michelle Saylor has spent her life working in the education system, but come July, her tenure as an administrator will end.
On Tuesday, the board of directors unanimously voted to approve her retirement, which will be effective July 1. Beginning as assistant superintendent, Saylor has been with the district since August 2012. Her term as superintendent began in 2016, replacing Cheryl Potteniger who left to serve as superintendent of Annville-Cleona School District.
“I’m not running from you or the community or the district. I love it,” Saylor said during Tuesday’s board meeting. “It’s just that my grandchildren are growing quickly, and I say tongue in cheek, I think for my role as an administrator over time, even though I don’t want to believe it, I may have sacrificed my children a little bit, and I won’t sacrifice my grandchildren.”
Originally from Nazareth, Pennsylvania, Saylor plans to spend her retirement in Texas.
She earned an undergraduate degree in secondary English from Bloomsburg University, a master’s in English from Scranton University and a master’s in education and principal certification from California University of Pennsylvania. Saylor obtained a doctorate from Widener University.
“Kudos to the ability to go and do it,” said Jon Guizar, board president.
As the district makes plans to hire a new superintendent, the board of directors is in the planning process for the proposed elementary school building project.
After postponing the project in November, board members voted on Tuesday to readvertise a request for proposal for the project. The district will decide whether to renovate one or a combination of its elementary schools, consolidate or build an entirely new building in the spring.
This story was originally published January 9, 2020 at 12:05 PM.
