KNOX, Pa. (EYT) — Keystone School District’s new superintendent Teresa Young recently sat down with exploreClarion.com for an interview, and she described what she wanted to accomplish at the school.

To begin with, your basic background details. Where are you from? Where did you go to school? Other jobs you had?

Young: I grew up in Armstrong County, and I lived in Indiana County for a while, and I currently reside in Clearfield County.

I did my undergrad at IUP. I did my master’s at IUP. I did some graduate work at CalU.

I worked for 19 years at Harmony School District. There, I taught several different grade levels. I taught sixth grade; I taught learning support, middle school reading; I taught preschool. Then, I went to administration and did basically everything: elementary principal, high school principal, federal programs, special education coordinator, transportation director, curriculum — some of them at one time. I finished up there as acting superintendent. Then, I took a job out east in Carbon County at Weatherly School District as the superintendent. That’s where I have been for the last four and a half years before coming here.

That’s quite a drive from Clearfield County.

Young: Yes, I drove home every other weekend. My husband would come up one weekend, and I come home the other weekend. It’s about 200 miles, so it would take me about three hours. It was a nice drive. I’m actually very happy to get closer to home, closer to my kids and my grandkids.

Why did you decide to come to Keystone? What made it an attractive place to work at?

Young: I wasn’t really looking, but I always take notice of school districts that are smaller in size. I saw the advertisement for Keystone, and I made contact, and I was offered the opportunity to come down and tour the district. So, I did that. I believe that was back in July when I came down.

I spent about two hours here going around the current administration, and I liked everything that I saw: …very stable school district; administration that has been here, school board that has been here for a long time. And, so I applied and I interviewed for the position.

What are your priorities coming into this job? What needs to get done first?

Young: Well, I’m only on Week Three, so right now I am just meeting with people and learning the district, so I can’t tell you what my priorities are right now, but I can speculate in the fact that it’s going to be about learning loss kids have experienced during the pandemic…making sure we are assessing the kids and knowing what it is they need to get them back on track academically.

I’d like to make sure we are meeting their needs socially and emotionally. I want to make sure I’m providing quality professional development to the teachers, so I can be supportive in whatever they need to be able to teach the kids during this pandemic and beyond. And really, going back to getting to know everything I can about the district, to see what the needs are going to be. It’s really too early to tell.

Have there been any surprises so far?

Young: No, I wouldn’t really say there’s been any surprises. A couple of things that I noticed I’m going to need to work on are making sure the policies are up to date. I’d like to take a look at our website and make it more user-friendly. It’s kind of antiquated. It’s not one of my top priorities but it’s definitely on there because it needs some work.

Looking at what assessments that we’re currently giving kids to make sure we’re giving them assessments to know what their learning loss is and looking at curriculum…One thing I noted is we have one person in the entire district for technology. I have worked with a company in the past as far as expanding technology help. That is probably something we’re going to look at. And, look at our e-rate, possibly getting a consulting company to help us with our e-rate moving forward.

What is e-rate?

Young: E-rate is the federal, I’m not exactly sure what it stands for, but it’s the reimbursement for technology services, like the infrastructure. So cabling, the fiber for internet, internet services, network switchers. All of your infrastructure to make sure you stay up and running. I’m looking to make sure we maximize our reimbursement.

What is your approach to running a school district? Your philosophy for administration?

Young: Not moving into anything too fast. I want to make sure I know the district and know what’s working and what’s not working. Know the people, know the programs that are in place. I want to make sure I’m working with my administrative team.

I’m not a person that just says, “I want to do this and this is the reason why.” I’d rather work together as a team to make sure we’re making the best decisions that we can for kids.

What do you do in your free time?

Young: I like spending my free time with my family, but because I am up here during the week and my family is not up here, I do a lot of crafting.

So, what types of crafts?

Young: Oh my…so, I make epoxy cups and tumblers. I make jewelry. I have a Cricket machine, so I make bows, hairbows for kids. Just anything crafty. I do some embroidery, make earrings out of leather. That kind of stuff.

You’ve mentioned your family?

Young: I have five kids and three grandkids. My kids range from 31 to 22, and I have a 13-year-old grandson, a six-year-old granddaughter, and a grandson that was just born on September 13.

Is there anything I haven’t asked you about that you would like to add?

Young: I’m sure if you come back six months from now I’ll probably have a lot more, but right now, at this time, I’m a little too new.

I’m just looking forward to working with the school board. I’m just looking forward to working with the administration and the staff to make Keystone the best that it can be.