TIONESTA, Pa. (EYT) – Keith Hastings brings a unique perspective on education as he assumes the role of elementary principal of North Clarion Elementary School.
He brings with him 12 years of teaching and two years as an elected school board member at the Kane Area School District.
Hastings taught math and physics at the East Forest High School in Marienville for 11 years and earlier taught for one year at Abraxas. He lived in Kane and served as a school board member for the last two years before he resigned to accept the North Clarion position. His wife Stacy was a math teacher at Kane for five years until she resigned to raise her three children.
Becoming a part of the North Clarion community is one of his first goals and the couple is planning to move from Kane. Keith and Stacy, a graduate of East Forest High School, first met as students at Geneva College in Beaver Falls where they both earned math education degrees. The couple has three young children. Abigail is in second grade, Ethan is in Kindergarten and three-year-old Emma is at home.
“I have had the opportunity to see education from all different angles, which is a great thing,” said Hastings. “We were all students at one time and I’ve been in Marienville for the last 12 years, six as head teacher. Being a teacher and being on the school board has helped me out for this new position because I can see it from both sides and I can relate to both sides and keep the school running properly.”
Hastings said being a school director takes a lot of time, hard work, sacrifices, and making decisions that are not always easy. However, he recommends it to anyone and it is a very fulfilling experience.
“I’ve been on the school board for the last two years at Kane,” said Hastings. “It’s a good thing to be involved with education at different levels. I understand all of the parts in the engine how to make it run by doing that. To be honest, it was sometimes a little conflicting because of the different hats. When you’re a teacher you think this, when you’re a director you think a different thing, and when you’re a principal you’re in the middle.”
Things will be a little different for Hastings as he takes on the new position, moving from teaching math and physics in high school to principal of an elementary, but there are still some of the same basic concepts at work.
“The student body is different and you have to look at the different developmental levels,” said Hastings. “What we’re doing here is preparing them for their lifelong learning. It is different; you can’t speak the same way and there is a different relationship you will have with an older kid — someone in seventh through twelfth — because you’re going to have someone that is age four through twelve.”
“A pre-K through sixth grade is going to be different, but the basis is still going to be the same. The theory is still the same. You build a relationship with a child and you carry that through so that they can trust you and they’re going to learn from you. That’s the same across the board and that’s the bottom line. You have to be there for them to build that trust and be accountable for them and you have to build a strong relationship with the parents.”
The relationship with parents and elementary students is profound and a critical part of the education, according to Hastings.
“You work with the kids and the parents and you have to work with the community for it to flourish,” said Hastings. “My goal for the fist year is to make sure everything is running smoothly and make sure everyone is feeling comfortable with me. North Clarion is a great school district and my main goal is to become part of all that. I want to become part of this community and be here for the kids and the families.”
Hastings says the next step is to look at how to make things even better at North Clarion.
