Three longtime Frazier educators retiring
PERRYOPOLIS – After 14 years of helping to turn around a low achieving, financially troubled school district, Frazier superintendent Dr. Frederick Smeigh is ready to close one chapter in his life and open the next after accepting a position with the state in his post-retirement. “This is the longest I’ve ever been in one position, and I think you have to know when to move on to something new and the opportunity arose,” said Smeigh, a 38-year educator.
Smeigh is one of three top administrators in the district who announced their resignations to the board in April for retirement purposes.
Also departing is Linda Nelson, supervisor of K-12 special education, curriculum and instruction, and Barbara Mehalov, middle school principal.
Reflecting on his career at Frazier, Smeigh said he’ll miss the intellectual challenge, and he is proud of helping to build a successful educational program that has continued to garner both state and national recognition as one of the state’s highest achieving school districts with an above-average number of low-income children.
“We’ve been able to accomplish building a program that has really added to the education of the students,” he said.
As part of that accomplishment, Smeigh was distinguished as one of the top 48 individuals making a significant impact on education in public schools, colleges or universities in western Pennsylvania last year, based on a critique by a Pittsburgh newspaper.
Smeigh took the initial step toward making Frazier what it is today from the time he was hired in the 1991-1992 school year, when the district’s educational program was in such lamentable condition that it was placed on the state’s “Watch List” for districts approaching financially distressed status.
So distressed was Frazier, in fact, that Smeigh said the school board found itself faced with a $400,000 shortfall from the prior year before having to add in salaries, benefits and bond issue costs that caused the deficit to swell to nearly $900,000.
“That was a lot of money for a district this size,” Smeigh said.
With a deficit that large, the board was forced to raise taxes by 12 mills and close Brownfield Elementary School, as well as impose layoffs.
But, budget constraints weren’t the board’s only downfall.
Smeigh said the same year he was hired, only three of the nine school board members didn’t have a relative working for the district, making it even more difficult to negotiate a teachers contract while pressuring the administration.
The board, encouraged by Smeigh, quickly resolved the problem, however, by adopting an anti-nepotism policy, with more than the majority in favor of the move.
“It took a lot of pressure off the principals and administrators when it came time to interview and hire, since the board controls their salaries, working conditions and benefits,” said Smeigh.
According to Smeigh, Frazier is the only school district in Fayette and Greene counties that he is aware of to have such a policy.
Smeigh and his wife, Linda, moved to Frazier in 1991 from Altoona Area School District, where he served as assistant superintendent with prior positions as assistant to the superintendent, federal programs supervisor and social studies teacher.
The Frazier board hired Smeigh from a pool of candidates listed with the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA).
The state association recruits prospective candidates nationwide through its Superintendent Search Program, while the school board selects and interviews them.
“The most important job a school district has is selecting a superintendent. It’s probably their number one decision,” said Smeigh.
The Frazier board will have to make that same decision now that Smeigh is departing. The board is undergoing the same search through PSBA and will begin interviewing candidates later this summer.
A native of Altoona, Smeigh is a 1960 graduate of Altoona High School, where he started his teaching career seven years later.
He earned a bachelor of science degree in comprehensive social studies from Clarion University of Pennsylvania, a master of arts degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a doctorate in educational administration from the University of Pittsburgh.
From 1997 to 2004, Smeigh held various positions at St. Francis University in Loretto, where he was adjunct assistant professor of educational administration, teaching graduate courses.
He had several offers at other school districts, but decided to accept the position at Frazier because he and his wife liked the community, while at the same time he was informed that the district had a positive financial status.
But, the financial position wasn’t the case when he arrived.
“When I was interviewed, the board thought they had a surplus, and to be honest they thought they did,” said Smeigh.
However, the district’s Pittsburgh auditing firm revealed otherwise.
Smeigh attributed the board’s lack of knowledge to its three-month operation without a superintendent, combined with having to complete a budget and not making arrangements to submit the district’s first bond issue payment from an $8.6 million high school/middle school renovation project.
Although the district had a business manager, Smeigh said the person was unfamiliar with the board’s prior decisions as a new hire.
It wasn’t until Smeigh’s third month on the job that he realized the district was using its surplus to pay on the bond issue.
“We didn’t have the revenue to make the bond payments for the following years,” said Smeigh.
Despite the academic and financial hardships the district has overcome, Smeigh said he doesn’t regret taking on the role as superintendent.
“I’m leaving Frazier with a solid foundation,” he said.
Smeigh will continue in his position until the end of August, when he will officially retire and become a team member in the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Distinguished Educator (DE) Initiative as one of about 30 candidates chosen to lend their expertise to assist struggling school districts in the region that haven’t met the state standards for adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
The DE is one of the components of the state’s efforts to provide support to struggling districts in identifying barriers and gaps to improving student achievement, and then work alongside that district’s staff to overcome the discrepancies.
Smeigh’s leadership in education has also earned him an invitation by the New Hampshire Department of Education to serve as the keynote speaker in August at their 2005 Summer Institute, which will focus on improving student academic achievement.
Smeigh also was cited by the Council of Chief State School Officers based on his experience as a superintendent whose leadership, despite a school district’s difficult conditions, resulted in a significant positive change for the students.