Butler Area School Board's plans to reopen Broad Street Elementary School next year took a step forward Monday with the hiring of a principal.

The board unanimously voted to hire Vanessa Boyd, an administrator at a middle school in Pittsburgh Public Schools, as the principal at a starting date yet to be determined.

Boyd will start working sometime this school year at Center Township Elementary School so she can become familiar with the students who will attend Broad Street when it opens for the 2021-22 school year, said Superintendent Brian White.

He said the board is planning to reopen Broad Street, but hasn't taken formal action to do so.

“I'm very passionate about education,” Boyd said, in a Zoom call with the school board.

She said she believes in making schools places where students feel welcome. “I'm nervously excited,” she said about starting her new job.

Boyd said she lives in Beaver County, but is from Trinidad in the Caribbean Islands. She said she moved to the United States at age 16 and lived in Philadelphia. Boyd described herself as a military wife. She also said she coached volleyball and boys basketball.

Most of the students who attended Broad Street when it closed in 2015 in a school reorganization plan were transferred to Center Township and to Northwest Elementary School.

Broad Street is being used as a cyber center, where elementary teachers conduct online classes. The building is also an off-site care facility for the Butler Health System if extra space is needed to treat COVID-19 patients.

In a related personnel move, the board approved transferring Center Township assistant principal Chad Broman to the principal's position at Summit Elementary School.