Longtime Nazareth Superintendent Victor Lesky to announce retirement

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

Nazareth Area Superintendent of Schools Victor Lesky plans to announce at this evening's school board meeting his plans to retire, effective July 2012.

In a letter obtained by The Express-Times, Lesky said he will stay with the district until his current contract expires on July 4. He has been an educator for the past 38 years.

The meeting is scheduled for 7:30 at the Walter L. Peters board room in district administration building in Upper Nazareth Township.

"During the past 36 years, I have had the honor and good fortune to serve the students, parents and residents of the Nazareth Area School District as a teacher, assistant principal, high school principal and superintendent of schools," Lesky stated in the letter.

He further said during his 11-year tenure as superintendent and the prior 15 years as high school principal, he has worked with many dedicated administrators, teachers, parents and community members that have enabled the district to:

* Successfully transform a small rural school district in the mid-1980s into one with a student population ranked in the top 20 percent of all Pennsylvania school districts
* Build a respected and quality academic program highlighted by an increase from 56 percent of Nazareth graduates entering baccalaureate degree or post-secondary education programs in 1985 to a school district in which 85 to 90 percent of all graduates have entered baccalaureate degree or post-secondary education programs over the past decade
* Helped to make all six district schools meet Adequate Yearly Progress benchmarks in the school years 2009-10 and 2010-11
* Establish a diversity program in a school district that was approximately 99 percent Caucasian in the late 1980s to one in 2010 that has students whose ancestry originates from more than 75 countries
* Maintain a fiscal integrity that moved the Nazareth Area School District from the highest real estate taxing entity among the eight school districts in Northampton County in 1999 to a rank of fifth out of the eight school districts with a tax millage rate that is, now in 2011, below the Northampton County average

"This was accomplished by meeting the needs of our students with a well balanced academic, athletic and arts program while successfully provisioning for the facility needs of a rapidly expanding school district," Lesky said.

Lesky went on to praise the leadership of many in the letter, stating nothing could be accomplished without a community led by a school board that placed a high value on the education of its youth, parents who worked with the school district to provide the needed support from home, a community that financially supported education as "the path to a better future" and students who possessed a strong work ethic and were willing to sacrifice immediate gratification for long term success.

"I will always be proud to say I was a 'Blue Eagle,' " Lesky said.

Lesky serves as a board member of the Nazareth Area Chamber of Commerce, Moravian Hall Square Retirement Community, Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators (IU 20 representative), and the Pennsylvania Local Government Investment Trust.

He is a member of the Lehigh University School Study Council, served as the CIT superintendent of record in 2007 and 2008, and is an adjunct professor in the graduate education program of Moravian College. Lesky was a member of the PIAA Wrestling Officials Lehigh Valley Chapter from 1982-2008.

Lesky graduated from Penn State University and received his master’s degree in educational administration, principal’s certification and superintendent’s letter of eligibility from Lehigh University. He earned his doctorate in education Leadership from Nova Southeastern University.

Lesky taught technical education in the Easton Area School District and at Nazareth Area High School before becoming junior high school assistant principal in 1979. He became high school principal in 1984 and superintendent of schools in 1999.

His most recent salary was $149,708.

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/nazareth/index.ssf/2011/09/longtime_nazareth_superintende.html