School District Superintendent Offers Concerns, Goals
LOCK HAVEN – Keystone Central School District’s new superintendent, Jacquelyn Martin, went before Lock Haven City Council Monday night and offered up what she has learned in 14 weeks on the job and what her goals are for the school district she grew up in.
Martin came back to Clinton County in February, away for 29 years at several different school districts. She traced her career path for city council and offered a critique of what she has seen and where she wants the district to go.
She was unabashed in her enthusiasm for the job, stating “I care about the community deeply” and said she is “loving every minute of it.”
But Martin was candid in what she has learned. She came to a district, she said, which had “no plan” in the areas of facilities, academics and finances. She talked of the need for more academic rigor for students, a need to revise the high school calendar from 42 minute periods (too short, she said), and the district’s “atrocious” attendance numbers which she said were comparable to Harrisburg High School. She said there would be members of this year’s senior class who will not be receiving a diploma because of excessive school absences. Bullying, too, she said needs addressed, noting the local community is a “tough place to break into,” what she called “a very closed mindset.”
Martin talked of involving stakeholders in the process, from the school community and the community at large, a process she said is already underway. She has learned, she said, that parents don’t feel fully engaged in the process and efforts are being made to change that.
She presented a draft of goals for the district, a plan through the year 2025, and stated she wants “growth and achievement for every student” and touched on two goals which are part of the draft: a new vision “preparing citizens for the challenges and opportunities of the future” and a new mission “committed to developing lifelong learners who are adaptable, resilient, productive and of high moral character.”
Martin said Keystone Central has “an opportunity to be a world-class school district” and needs to determine what “we want it to look like in the future.”
