Schools

Nazareth Superintendent to Announce Retirement

Dr. Victor Lesky is expected to announce his retirement at tonight's Nazareth School Board meeting.

Dr. Victor Lesky, Nazareth Area School District's superintendent of schools, is expected to announce his retirement at tonight's Nazareth School Board meeting.

In a letter -- which Lesky says he plans to read to board members at the 7:30 p.m. meeting in the Walter L. Peters board room -- he writes that he will retire from his position when his current contract ends on July 4, 2012.

Lesky has been in public education for 38 years -- the past 36 of which he spent as a teacher, assistant principal, high school principal and then superintendent in the Nazareth Area School District.

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During his 11-year tenure as superintendent and 15-year tenure as principal of , Lesky writes, "I have worked with many dedicated administrators, teachers, parents, and community members that have enabled Nazareth to:

  1. "Successfully transform a small rural school district in the mid-1980s to one with a student population ranked in the top 20 percent of all Pennsylvania school districts.
  2. "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 where 85 to 90 percent of all graduates have entered baccalaureate degree or post-secondary education programs over the past decade. In addition, all six schools in the Nazareth Area School District have met all Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) benchmarks in the school years 2009-2010 and 2010-2011.
  3. 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 over 75 different countries of the world.
  4. 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 5th 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 ends his letter by saying, "I will always be proud to say I was a 'Blue Eagle.'"

Find out what's happening in Nazarethwith free, real-time updates from Patch.


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