BUTLER TWP — You could say Mike Strutt was good at taking people’s advice, at least when it came to making decisions about his career.

The recently retired Butler School District superintendent hadn’t always aspired to a career in education, but his experience as a teacher and educational administrator spanning 39 years is evidence of his love and dedication to the profession.

It initially was his college roommate who nudged him into pursuing the education field. Strutt had arrived at then Slippery Rock State College in the fall of 1971, where he planned to play football.

He had graduated from Riverside High School in Beaver County, where he was an all-conference honorable mention in football. But his Slippery Rock football plans quickly fell through during his freshman year, and he was at a loss at what he might do at the school.

His roommate, a 25-year Air Force veteran, was majoring in health science education. It wasn’t long before Strutt had the same major.

“I can’t say I always wanted to be a teacher, but once I got into a program, then I became more interested in it. And by the time I was a junior in college, I was pretty interested in becoming a teacher because I did begin to see some focus in what I was doing,” Strutt recalled.

“And I could start to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I could start to anticipate being a teacher, and I really liked the idea of becoming a coach.”

After graduating from Slippery Rock, he taught health classes for nine years in the Millcreek Township School District, near Erie. He also coached the football team there.

During that time, he earned his Masters in School Administration at Edinboro University, and also received a principal’s certification.

He said his wife, Elsie, suggested he might be a good fit for an administrative role, as did a few friends.

“I was thinking about getting a master’s degree in education,” Strutt said. “And my wife said, why would you do that? Why don’t you think about administration? You kind of like telling people what to do,” he said with a chuckle.

He then went on to teach and coach the cross country and track teams in the McDowell School District, also near Erie, and became assistant principal at McDowell Intermediate High School soon after.

He earned his doctorate from the University of Akron in 1988, and the following year, he landed a job as assistant principal at Butler Intermediate High School.

“We moved the family from Erie to Butler in the summer of 1989. And I’ve been in Butler ever since,” Strutt said.

Butler years

Strutt appeared more relaxed, looking back on his career, particularly the past 25 years when he worked for the Butler School District.

He began at Butler Intermediate High School as an assistant principal, and then principal, before moving up to be assistant superintendent, and lastly, superintendent during the past two-and-a-half school years. Strutt’s retirement was effective June 30.

His long-standing tenure with the school district proved helpful for being superintendent, said Don Pringle, school board president.

“He had a vast knowledge of everybody that worked in the district, and he had a vast knowledge of the students that were here, which was integral to running this district,” Pringle said.

“Not a lot of people can come in and look at 11 elementary schools, secondary schools, and piece it all together. And Dr. Strutt was good at that because of his experience here.”

During his time at Butler, Strutt’s most memorable projects include establishing the high school’s College Tech Prep program, and also laying the foundation for the district to be a leader and role model in school security and safety.

The tech prep program began in 1997. There now are about a half dozen programs, from health care and child care to computer technologies, with more than 500 students involved.

“We knew we had good programs for our best students in Advanced Placement programs, we knew we had the vocational technical school for students who were interested in those types of things, but we really didn’t have anything for students who were kind of in the middle of all of that,” Strutt said.

“College Tech Prep was an effort to develop programs that would give kids a focus while they were still in high school, so they could see that what they were learning had some meaning toward what they were going to do once they got out of high school. And it’s still a pretty popular program.”

Strutt also was instrumental in bringing about added security measures — specifically the hiring of armed police in December 2012.

Because of the timing of the approval of the district’s armed school police officers just days before the Newtown, Conn., school shooting, Butler received national media attention.

“The shooting kind of accelerated our process. We were going to kind of play it out for the rest of the school year, develop our protocols and procedures and policies, look at our training for the school police officers and purchasing weapons,” he said.

“But after what happened in Connecticut, we decided over the weekend to put together a plan very quickly, with the cooperation of a lot of people, and had our school police officers on duty the next Monday morning. All of them carrying their firearms.

“It was kind of a newsworthy, noteworthy kind of thing just because of the circumstances. Had we done it without any of the other issues in the country, it wouldn’t have drawn much attention, except maybe locally.”

But it is not just security that’s changed in the district.

Over the years, the district has had tighter budgets. Paperwork requirements under state and federal guidelines have increased.

“There’s so much more control from the state, in terms of what we do, what we can do, and what we cannot do. It’s really taken away, in my opinion, a great deal of local control that school districts have had for years and years,” he said.

“You spend most of your time and effort dealing with state regulations and state requirements. And I’m all for accountability. I don’t resist that one bit in terms of proving that what you’re doing matters and counts in being successful … But I just think it’s gotten carried to the extreme.”

But it was the students he had in mind every day on the job.

His favorite part of being the superintendent was interacting with students, through a monthly student advisory committee and other means.

“I always loved visiting elementary schools,” Strutt said. “Something about walking in there and seeing those little children who were just happy and enthusiastic about learning, about what they’re doing, just always kind of warmed my heart and made me realize, this is why I do what I do.”

Others also recognized Strutt cared for the students.

“He had the best interests of the students and the district at heart,” said Tom DeGeorge, president of the Butler Education Association, the teacher’s union.

DeGeorge compared Strutt’s predecessor, Ed Fink and Strutt, to presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman. Fink was Butler’s superintendent for 18 years.

“They were both great, but their style was that different,” he said.

Retirement Plans

While Strutt is retired now, he won’t be staying still. He has trips planned during the next several months, including South Carolina and Georgia to visit family, a trip to Atlantic City, and a two-week trip to Italy with a group of college friends.

“Outside of going to Canada a few times, it’ll be my first time outside the United States,” he said.

His wife, Elsie, also retired in June. She was a first-grade teacher at Butler Catholic School for the past 14 years. They will travel together, and visit their sons John, 27, and Andy, 25.

“We’re kind of walking off into the sunset together,” he said.