WEST JEFFERSON HILLS SCHOOL DISTRICT NEWS

Dr . Janet Sardon officially began serving the West Jefferson Hills School District community as superintendent on August 8 . The WJHSD Board appointed her to lead the district in a unanimous vote on June 7 . A district resident for most of her life , Dr . Sardon is a Thomas Jefferson High School graduate . She brings nearly 30 years of public education experience to the district , beginning her career as a special education teacher and serving as superintendent of the Yough School District since 2011 prior to her WJHSD appointment .

Dr . Sardon sat down for a Q & A this summer :

When you began your career in educational leadership , were you hopeful there ’ d be an opportunity to serve your alma mater ? And how excited are you to get started ?

Early on in my career I wasn ’ t sure , other than being a principal , where I was really headed as far as leadership goes . As time went on , I found that one of the most important parts of leadership is being able to give back to the community and to the people that you work with . Mentoring and giving back has always been a part of my leadership style .

To be able to come back to the district , work with , mentor , collaborate , and communicate with others is exciting . I ’ m really looking forward to doing everything I can for the best interest of our schools and community .

What are some of the things that you ’ ve been doing to assist with your transition since being appointed in June ?

I ’ ve had the ability to briefly meet with most of the administrative team . To this point , I think I ’ ve met all the principals , I ’ ve met all of the central office administrators , I ’ ve had the ability to meet some teachers . I spent some time at Jefferson Hills Community Day where I was able to meet some of the parents and community members and it was a really good day . I think the most important piece is getting to know the people that are living and breathing within the community .

I ’ ve spent a great deal of time looking at different resources within the district : our budgetary resources , our fiscal numbers and enrollment . That ’ s been a big thing , looking at the enrollment to see kind of where we ’ re headed as a district , knowing that our enrollment is the second-fastest growing in the county , and really one of the fastest-growing across the state ( 20th ). And then looking at PSSAs , Keystones , MAP scores and other achievement scores to see how we ’ re achieving as a district .

What should district students , their families and the community expect from you , as the superintendent ?

They should expect me to be visible within the community ; within the schools . They should expect me to not only be visible , but also to build good , solid relationships with staff , teachers , students , bus drivers , community members and businesses , because I value those relationships and that collaboration . I think if we ’ re all working together , that it benefits our students and our community and our businesses , so they should expect that

visibility , they should expect good solid relationship building and collaboration .

They should expect that I will be transparent . In all schools , in all aspects of education , there ’ s always things that come up that need to be addressed . Transparency is an important part of who I am and what I do . I will also be taking the time to immerse myself in the district and evaluate our different programs to determine what we ’ re doing well and what areas we can work to become better . I think that total culture scan is an important part of learning a new educational system as a leader .

As a Pleasant Hills and Jefferson Hills resident for most of your life , and the parent of a TJ graduate , you already have a great sense for the district and what ’ s happening in the district . What have been some of your observations of the strengths of the district through the years ?

There ’ s a couple of things that really stand out in West Jefferson Hills The first one is our school pride and tradition . I think whether I was in school here , my daughter was in school here , everybody was always proud to be a TJ Jaguar . So that school pride and tradition is something that makes West Jefferson Hills stand out .

The second would be our parental , family and community support . There ’ s not a day that goes by that I don ’ t see parents out there promoting one another or working together for the benefit of somebody that maybe needs help , so that camaraderie among community and parents and families really is important . And it ’ s not just helping when in need ; if you look at our PTAs within the district at McClellan and Gill Hall Elementary , our TJ Connections at the high school , you look at the booster

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