Chartiers Valley welcomes new principal to primary school

Chartiers Valley School District welcomed a brand new addition to its primary school on Feb. 1.

Emily Mather, 38, of Pine Township, will serve as the school’s academic principal, a position that was recently created to help younger students transition to higher learning levels.

The school district places students into four different school buildings designated by grade levels. The primary school covers kindergarten through second grade. The next step is the intermediate level, which covers grade third through fifth grade.

“The skill ability at younger ages is important,” said Johannah Vanatta, the district’s superintendent. “At the primary school, reading and math are the priorities — getting those basic skills down to prepare for learning later on.”

Vanatta said the district administration wanted to make sure the school’s team had a strong focus in those areas. When Mather applied, she stood out, Vanatta said.

Mather, a 2006 graduate of West Virginia University, has her masters’ degrees in elementary education and reading. She began her teaching career at New Kensington-Arnold School District teaching eighth grade, third grade and kindergarten.

She then moved to Freedom Area School District to become an instructional coach there. Her role changed when she became the district’s dean of students — which had her in charge of supporting intervention for students in kindergarten through eighth grade. Her last position with that district was elementary school principal, which she held for two-and-a-half years.

“I realized I could make a bigger impact,” she said of transitioning to administrative roles. She said it was a transition she didn’t see coming, but with new opportunities came personal growth.

“I learned that leadership is not a position or title, it’s action and example. My core values consist of teamwork and transparency so by creating that action and example I get to work with others in meaningful roles,” Mather said.

Working through a pandemic, she said, has been challenging on many levels — but she’s excited to get started. She said supporting staff and students will be her focus.

“One thing to keep in mind is teachers’ stress level and burnout. I need to be making sure they feel safe and supported in order to make families feel the same,” she said. “And it’s always the concern these days with students that need to be excelling in certain things. There’s a slide with academics — so it’s our job to make sure we’re creating opportunities for students to continue to show growth.”

The school district has been learning off a hybrid model since October that has students coming to school four or two days a week, while another portion of the student population learns remotely. All students then participate in remote learning on Fridays.

The school district, according to its website, has had a total of 138 covid-19 cases since the beginning of the school year (as of Feb. 3). Most of the cases, 89, have been students “outside of school buildings,” which represents those who have chosen to engage in fully remote learning. But it could also represent students who were not in school during their period of contagion.

Mather said the school district she moved from in Beaver County was fully remote. She said it’s been nice seeing students in person.

“It’s been wonderful,” she said. “It’s like a family here.”

Mather said she looks forward to getting to know the community and the students so she can figure out ways of giving students “strategies that work best for them to become independent learners.”