An educator who works with almost three dozen rural school districts in Pennsylvania will serve as Brookfield Central School District’s next superintendent.
The Brookfield school board voted to hire Thomas Butler, the executive director of Appalachia Intermediate Unit 8 based in Altoona, Pennsylvania, at a special meeting on June 1.
He is tentatively expected to begin the new job on August 1.
“I am honored to have been given the opportunity to serve the students, staff and families of the Brookfield Central School District,” said Butler in a statement. “As someone born and raised in a small town, I believe the school is the hub of the community. It’s the place where we come together for everything from musicals and ball games to serious learning. I look forward to listening to and learning from this community as we work together to ensure every graduate leaves with a clear and viable path forward.”
The school board plans to host a Meet-and-Greet event with Butler on a still undetermined date so the public can meet him before the school year begins.
Ronald Wheelock, former superintendent of the Sauquoit Valley School District has been serving as interim superintendent since last year. He replaced Superintendent Ron Pavlus who was hired in 2023 and with whom the school board reached a separation agreement last year.
Jim Plows had served as superintendent for eight years before Pavlus.
“Tom embodies the qualities our community identified as essential,” said Valerie Nolan, president of the Brookfield Central School District Board of Education, in a statement. “He is a steady leader who values the traditions and heritage of a close-knit community like ours. We are confident that his vast experience and passion for rural schools make him the right choice to guide our students and staff toward continued success.”
More on Butler
As executive director of the intermediate unit, Butler leads “strategic initiatives” in almost three dozen districts in Bedford, Somerset, Cambria and Blair counties in south central Pennsylvania, according to biographical information released by Brookfield.
Pennsylvania is divided into 29 intermediate units, which are nonprofits that provide educational services to students and school districts. Those services include things like special education, online learning program, preschool program, professional development, and administrative and purchasing consortia.
Intermediate units are similar to BOCES in New York, except they do not provide career and technical education.
Butler has spent three decades working in rural schools, starting out as a social studies teacher in the district he attended and then becoming a school counselor and high school principal in the same district. He then served as superintendent for both the Ridgway Area and Penn-Trafford school districts, located in Elk County and western Westmoreland counties, respectively, also in Pennsylvania.
Butler earned a Ph.D. in educational leadership from Penn State University; his research focused on the relationship between rural schools and their communities. He also holds an M.S. in counseling psychology from Alfred University and a B.S. in secondary education from Penn State.
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Who will serve as the next superintendent of the Brookfield schools?
Reporting by Amy Neff Roth, Utica Observer Dispatch / Observer-Dispatch
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