Students, parents meet new Broad St. principal
Vanessa Boyd, who will be the principal of Broad Street Elementary School in the Butler Area School District when the school reopens in the fall, shared her excitement for the 2021-22 school year with students and parents Tuesday.
At a casual gathering at Rotary Park in Butler, Boyd introduced herself to students who will attend Broad Street Elementary, and their parents.
Boyd and other staff greeted the families and distributed books and flavored ice treats.
“We're ready to start school,” Boyd said. “I'm excited.”
Earlier this month, the school board hired Boyd away from Pittsburgh Public Schools, where she worked as a community school manager, leveraging community resources to eliminate barriers that keep children out of school.
“The kids shine; sometimes, they just don't know how to get to the front door,” Boyd said about her previous position. She said she also worked at two different charter schools in Pittsburgh.
She hit the ground running March 8, working as an assistant principal at Center Township Elementary School, which many of the students she will see next year now attend.
“I'm working with all the other elementary principals so we're all on the same team,” Boyd said.Working at Center Township Elementary has helped her learn the district's computer system and curriculum, she said.The school district closed Broad Street Elementary in 2015 as a part of a reorganization plan, but the board recently voted to reopen it for the 2021-22 school year.Parents and students will have another chance to meet Boyd and an opportunity to see the school at an open house scheduled from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Friday. “We want to bring some pride to the area,” Boyd said. “Something that's really uplifting. I'm working all the way through the summer, getting prepared. We'll be ready in the fall.”She said she knows she will experience challenges, but she is ready to face them.To help familiarize herself with the districts, she said she has ridden the bus with students several times.Boyd said she is familiar with the county.She said she drove many times from her home in the Blackhawk School District to the VA Butler Healthcare facility to visit her husband, Roosevelt Boyd, who died from cancer in 2013 following his service in the Army.Boyd and her 24-year-old daughter, Tiye, keep him close to their hearts.“We're open about it,” Boyd said. “We talk about it all the time. We live our lives so he can live as well.”Traci Gaiser brought her grandson, Urijah Metzgar, who will attend Broad Street Elementary as a second grader in the fall, to meet Boyd.She said her grandson's family lives two blocks from Broad Street Elementary, but he has been attending Center Township Elementary.“We're excited to have the school back,” Gaiser said. “Busing to Center is getting old.”She said she never understood the district's decision to close Broad Street.Rocky Michael II brought his children Ryder, 6, and Amber, 4, to meet Boyd.“She's a really nice lady,” Michael said.He said he's glad his children will be attending school close to home next year. They now ride a bus to and from Center elementary.Michael said he attended Emily Brittain Elementary School as a child and he hasn't seen the inside of Broad Street Elementary for many years.
