'Kids...that's where the energy is'

Teaching still delights him after 36 years, so Penn Manor’s retiring superintendent hopes to volunteer in an alternative school.

Lancaster New Era

Jun 15, 2009 11:30 EST

Lancaster

By DAVID O'CONNOR, Staff Writer

Not a lot of educators can list both "head football coach" and "spring musical director" on their resume.

Donald Stewart can — and he also can jot in "former English teacher."

One of the many cherished letters he has received in recent weeks congratulating him on his retirement came from a former student.

That would be the football lineman who, with Stewart's encouragement years ago, played the role of a gangster in "Guys and Dolls."

The bright lights of the theater and the goalposts of the gridiron might appear to emerge from different worlds, said Penn Manor School District's outgoing superintendent last week.

But in reality, "they're both so similar ... you get a group of kids, you give them a plan, you get them motivated ..."  Stewart noted.

"And then you throw them out in front of an audience ... in one case you say 'compete' and in the other case you say, 'perform.'"

Stewart has plenty of memories like these after 36 years in education and seven years as top administrator of sprawling, suburban-and-rural Penn Manor School District.

He is officially retiring from the 5,300-student district on June 30, but he is modest about his role.

"I've been blessed to have been served by wonderfully capable people, and I just got out of their way," he said Friday in his nearly empty office at Manor Middle School.

He also credits his "rock-solid school board," plus another important component — what he calls his students' "first teachers," their parents.

Stewart, a native of Monroeville in suburban Pittsburgh, noted how many in Lancaster County "care deeply about their children, so they also care deeply about the schools where they send their children."

In his district, he added, there are still many parents who send out their kids with the exhortation, "'Now, you perform, and you behave, because that's what this family stands for.'

"And when you have that kind of support at home, it makes our job pretty easy."

The 59-year-old Stewart, whose wife, Nancy, is a fourth-grade teacher for neighboring Lampeter-Strasburg School District, announced his plans to retire at a school board meeting last fall.

He is being succeeded as superintendent by Michael Leichliter.

Like many, Stewart finds himself "95 percent elated and 5 percent scared to death" as he prepares to retire: "Everybody I've talked to has said 'retirement is a wonderful gift, it's a real blessing, and there's nothing to be concerned about because your calendar gets filled up so quickly,' but it's still an incredible change.

"A friend told me the best thing about retirement is you get to discover another 'you,' and I'm anxious to discover what that other 'you' is for me."

Stewart agreed there's a growing number of social and financial problems to be addressed in Penn Manor and other districts.

"There have been good financial times for schools over the last seven years, but I don't know if that will continue into the future ... there may be tough financial times ahead."

Stewart was a teacher for 11 years, including for L-S and Elizabethtown schools, before Penn Manor hired him as assistant principal at Marticville Middle School in 1985.

He later served as principal at Hambright and Eshleman elementary schools and assistant district superintendent before being named superintendent in 2002.

Stewart has served as superintendent of record for Lancaster County Academy, the public alternative high school at Park City Center.

While many of his retirement plans are open-ended, he said he has "fallen in love with that program" at the academy, so he hopes to help there as a volunteer.

Being a district superintendent means "so much distance from the kids ... I just don't have that same chance to interact with them as a teacher."

"And the closer I got to retirement, the more I wanted to be with the kids, because that's where the energy is in a school."

He and other educators see more family problems that follow students to school, and Stewart, if he could be granted one wish for his soon-to-be-former district, said it would be this:

"I would want every student to go home each night to a stable, loving environment where they have family and parents as their 'first teachers.'

"Because kids these days have incredible hurdles to overcome ... hurdles that weren't so much a part of their lives 36 years ago."


Staff writer David O'Connor can be reached at doconnor@LNPnews.com or 481-6033.