Brian Hagberg
RUSSELL, Pa. – Superintendent Amy Stewart said Monday that she hadn’t shed a tear when thinking about her upcoming retirement. That nearly changed as attendees streamed in for the special board meeting Monday night.
Her husband, Rob, and daughter and son-in-law, Rachel and Tyler Higbee, were among the administrators and current and former board members who came to recognize Stewart for her 30-plus year career with the Warren County School District.
“I was good until everybody showed up tonight,” Stewart said. “I had my game face on, we were good. Everything was fantastic. Coming in serving this role is something that was an honor and I’m going to be in trouble because I’ve been bragging that I haven’t shed a tear yet and I know that that’s what Gary (Weber)’s been trying to do.”
The school board presented Stewart with a plaque and then added a surprise.
“The Board of School Directors with respect to Amy J. Stewart waive any requirement in policy 6510 that she must be deceased for at least three years with the understanding that all other requirements of policy 6510 shall apply and hereby approves the naming of the central office boardroom in honor of Amy J. Stewart in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the Warren County School District,” board member Mary Passenger announced.
See the presentation:
Stewart detailed some of those contributions, and challenges, she’s faced during an appearance on Your Daily Local’s Coffee & a Conversation on Saturday.
See the full episode:
Stewart had high praise for the people she’s met in her journey from teacher to administrator to superintendent.
“I have met amazing people,” Stewart said. “I mean, all of our employees, I mean all of the boards, the board members that we’ve worked with, I’ve built relationships that are going to last forever. It really has been a wonderful ride.”
Though every district faces its own challenges, Stewart said the WCSD is a “unique beast” in the way it operates. She was also proud of the way the district responded to the pandemic.
“We have worked diligently together to do wonderful things we got through amazing times in history,” Stewart said. “We never want to face those face those again. We did so with class and with professionalism and did our very best.”
Stewart closed her remarks with a symbolic passing of the torch to newly approved superintendent Gary Weber.
“Now we sit here at a transitional time,” Stewart said. “I couldn’t be more excited to be handing off the baton to Gary. We’ve been working towards this so that we were ready. We’ve sat here before many times as some of our older board . . . not older board members, former board members could say, you know just not having the right fit for the school district. This is a unique beast that we operate here and I say that all the time. But this is a very unique situation. So we are ready and I think we’ve done the very best work we can here. So good luck to you, Mr. Weber, and thank you very much it’s a great honor.”
Stewart’s last day with the district is Friday, March 1, with Weber set to take the reigns effective Saturday, March 2.
