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The Purbalite

The student news site of Baldwin High School

The Purbalite

The student news site of Baldwin High School

The Purbalite

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New leadership team knows Baldwin

By Alex Pantone

The new school year welcomed a new leadership team at the district level, with Dr. Randal Lutz taking over as superintendent and Denise Sedlacek becoming assistant superintendent. 

Lutz, an educator for 22 years — 17 of them in the district — succeeds Dr. Lawrence Korchnak. Sedlacek, an educator for 28 years who is returning to the district, succeeds Dr. John Wilkinson.

As the two begin work in their new posts, the Purbalite asked them about their impressions of the district and their vision for the future.

Question: What previous positions have you held?

Lutz: I came here in 1996 as the vice principal of the middle school, and after a few years I moved to the principalship of the middle school. Then I did curriculum and instruction for elementary. I did assistant superintendent, acting superintendent, and then superintendent. 

Sedlacek: I started out as a teacher in West Palm Beach because the teaching jobs were hard to find in Pennsylvania. … I was an assistant principal at Bentworth High School, from 1991 to 1993, then I was the middle school principal at Canon McMillan School District, from 1993 until 1996, then I was the high school principal at Charleroi, from 1996 to 1999. I was the academic principal at Chartiers Valley, from 1999 to 2004, and then I was the supervisor of secondary curriculum here at Baldwin-Whitehall, from 2004 to 2005. Then I was the director of Craig Academy …from 2005 to 2009. Then I was the vice president of educational services for Presley Ridge from 2009 until June of 2012.

Q. What was the first task you took on at Baldwin?

Lutz: The first thing I ever remember doing was meeting with the principal and meeting with a teacher about an incident with a student. It was summertime. And it was not a pleasant meeting, so I’m thinking to myself, “Wow, what am I doing here?”

Sedlacek: I think I met with all the administrative team, and learned a little bit about them. I just kind of met with staff to see where they were.

Q. Have you encountered any major setbacks yet?

Lutz: No. It’s a great school. There’s a lot of support, from the teachers, from the administrators, the parents, and the kids are great.

Sedlacek: No. Not one.

Q. What do you think the district’s biggest challenge in currently?

Lutz: Educational funding is always going to be a challenge. We have to continue to do just as much, if not more, than we ever used to do before, basically on the same or less money. … Another thing that will be a challenge, of course is academic achievement. We need to get stronger.

Sedlacek: Public relations. I think that the Baldwin- Whitehall School District is the South Hills’ best kept secret. I think there are so many great things happening here, but we need to make sure that everyone else in our community and in other communities know it.

Q. How do you plan to move the district forward?

Lutz: To be deeply focused on fewer things. To be focused on three major areas: curriculum, instruction, and diversity. There are a lot of things that we’re forced to spend time on, but we can’t let those things consume our day.

Sedlacek: Getting everyone on the same page. Communicate, communicate, communicate. Making sure that everyone in our community feels a part of the school district. So we really want to work on student engagement, parent engagement, and community engagement.

Q. What do you feel Baldwin’s biggest strengths are?

Lutz: The people, traditions in the communities and schools. The facilities too, whether they’re academic facilities or athletic facilities

Sedlacek: The students and the staff.

Q. What are you most looking forward to in your time at Baldwin?

Lutz: Short term is really refining some of the processes of the business and operations work that we do, and creating that focus towards excellence. A little more long term is, and maybe it’s a little selfish in some ways, is that I’ll have the opportunity to give the commencement speeches when my daughters graduate.

Sedlacek: Getting to know the kids. I like to play — you know I still haven’t grown up, I can do that adult thing too, but I really think that too, sometimes we get lost, and we forget to laugh. We forget to enjoy the moment because we’re worried about making the grades to get into college.

Q. Can you describe Baldwin in one word?

Lutz: Family.

Sedlacek: Camelot.

Q. What do you feel were the most important moments you experienced here at Baldwin?

Lutz: I think friendships. I went to a Catholic school for elementary school, and as many kids do, you get to meet kids (at Baldwin) from many other parts of the community that you may or may not have been aware of. … Also, a tough experience was Mrs. Livingston’s 12th grade English class.

Q. What were your favorite memories?

Lutz: I know this is corny, but probably the prom and senior year. I met my wife, we went to the prom together, and of course, high school sweethearts, we got married. Another significant memory is that the 1985 basketball team was an excellent team. They went on to finish second in WPIAL, and we got to play down at Pitt.

Q. Are there any teachers here at Baldwin that you had or knew during your time as a student?

Lutz: Mr. Spahr is still here. Of course when my grandchildren come through here, Mr. Spahr will still be here. Actually my bus driver, Cowgirl Marty, she used to wear a cowboy hat every day, and Mr. Helbig.

Q.  When did you leave, and why?

Sedlacek: August of 2005. The reason I left was because there were some medical issues with my son, so I left for personal reasons so I could take care of my son.

Q. What brought you back?

Sedlacek: Baldwin, the potential, the people, the programs.

Q. What school did you graduate from?

Sedlacek: I graduated from Burrell High School.

Q. Who were your favorite teachers, what did they teach and what made them stand out?

Lutz: Ms. Kondrot was one of my favorite teachers. She treated you with respect. Mrs. Cooper was my English teacher and she taught me how to write. Mr. Russman was the biology teacher, and he always had a story to tell. And Mrs. Lindner, she was my German teacher and homeroom teacher for all three years, and she was like a second mom to me.

Sedlacek: Mr. Amino, he was a social studies teacher in high school, and he made learning fun. Mr. V., he was either my Algebra II or Trig teacher, and he instilled a sense in me that you can do anything. I didn’t like math, but I was good at it, and he inspired you to take on challenges and that you could do anything if you set your mind to it.

 

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