2 principals switch jobs for next year
ADAMS TWP — Students at two schools in the Mars School District this fall will see new faces in the principal's office.
Centennial School Principal Todd Lape and Primary Center Principal Adam Kostewicz will switch jobs beginning in the 2015-16 school year.
The Primary Center educates students in kindergarten and first grade. The Centennial School has students in grades five and six.
Acting Superintendent William Pettigrew said that he made the move so the principals in the five Mars schools will have knowledge of one another's routines.
“I wanted to give both of them some other experiences within the school district,” Pettigrew said. “We're going to be having additional vacancies in the next few years, and we want people to be flexible so they can move around the district.”
Pettigrew said Dale Sleva, the assistant principal at the high school, will move to the principal's job at the middle school next year due to the retirement of 14-year Principal Rich Cornell.
Sleva will serve in that position for one year, and then his performance will be evaluated to determine if he will remain there.
Lape said that no matter what position he has in the district, he will do his best to excel and live up to the expectations of administration and the school board.
“This is a very high-achieving district, and I feel blessed to be here,” Lape said.
He said he served for two years as the principal of a school in Oil City, Venango County, that had kindergarten through eighth grade, so he has experience with the youngest public school students.
“I'm very patient,” Lape said “It takes a lot of patience to work with the young ones.”
Building a strong educational foundation in the earliest grades, Lape said, is essential to producing a good student and lifelong learner.“It's an exciting new opportunity in my career, to work with kids at a young level,” Lape said. “My goal is to try to strengthen their fundamental skills prior to a higher grade.”He said the preteen issues at the Centennial School will give way to dealing with emotional parents sending their youngsters out into the world alone for the first time.“I remember those days as a parent, and it's very emotional,” Lape said. “You don't want them to grow up.”Kostewicz was busy with kindergarten registration on Friday, and was unavailable for comment.
