Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Schools chief says she loves her job
Downingtown Superintendent of Schools Emilie Lonardi loves how working in education can positively influence students.
Prior to joining the Downingtown Area School District as the superintendent in July, Lonardi served as the superintendent of the West York Area School District since 1998. Before that she served two years as West York’s assistant superintendent and was director of curriculum and instruction for Camp Hill School District for four years.
“I liked every job I’ve ever held, but I like this the best,” she said about working her way up to superintendent from her start as a
teacher. “As soon as I began an administrator, I thought, I love it, this fits me perfectly, and I’m going to be superintendent someday. I knew it then. Here I am all those years later and I still feel that way.”
She said she loves all aspects of the job and particularly how it benefits young people who are the future in the workforce.
“I think the job is important because you are influencing the future of so many children, I think that is the most exciting aspect of it,” Lonardi said. “It’s always evolving and I like that.”
It can also be challenging, but she enjoys helping people to work together toward common goals or finding solutions to problems.
“I think it’s always challenging because there are a lot of people at all levels with disparate opinions and often times, it’s hard to reach consensus. At the board level with its nine members, everyone comes to the table with thoughtful but varied opinions, and this board is really good,” Lonardi said. “It’s hard to get people to agree so in my mind it makes it an interesting problem to try to get people to work together and move the district forward.”
During her career she keeps in mind the saying that “this is the profession that allows all other professions to happen.”
“There’s a big weight on our shoulders as educators and I embrace that,” Lonardi said.
When Lonardi began at Downingtown, she told the staff that “we’re going to keep on, keeping on” because she doesn’t think it is beneficial for a new leader to make immediate changes. With the recent updates in the district regarding 21st century learning, such as blended programs and the 1:1 laptop initiative, she didn’t want to change the academic direction, but rather, wanted to continue to enhance such programs.
Part of her role this 201718 academic year has been reviewing the progress of academic programs for improvement and to help with ideas to accommodate the continued growth of students in the district. Currently with 16 schools, Downingtown is the largest district in Chester County; eighth largest in the state.
She described the York County schools as typical Pennsylvania-sized schools with about 3,000 to 6,000 students in each district. Downingtown is much larger with a little under 13,000 students.
She believes the biggest change for her is the size of the district, but she said the transition has been extremely smooth. She credits how welcoming and supportive both the staff and community have been since her arrival.
“It’s not really as different as I thought it would be, and I’m happy about that,” Lonardi said. “I feel good ... I’m comfortable, have learned my way around and met many people.”
She described Downingtown as a big district with a small-town feel.
One of the appealing factors for her is how Downingtown is a larger school district with a strong reputation. She enjoyed working at West York where she says she was “in a nice place, doing good things with good people” and didn’t want to leave for another school of the same size.
“I wanted to focus on a larger district, so Downingtown was perfect,” Lonardi said.
That was part of something “different” that she said she sought. Because she had served as the superintendent of West York for 19 years, people told her she could follow the paths that most superintendents do after retirement, such as consulting work, teaching college classes and speaking at educational presentations. However, she had done all of those things concurrent with her previous job as superintendent and now wants to continue, but solely focus on her role as Downingtown superintendent.
She spent the first year in Downingtown learning the culture. She has visited more than 180 classrooms. She wanted to submerge herself in the school district and community to understand what people value and continue to “make a great school even better.” She also met with staff and the principals of each school because she believes that “if your principal is awesome, that building is awesome.”
She has also met with police chiefs prior to the annual safety school summit held earlier this school year. She enjoys interacting with people who come from different backgrounds and career paths. She says it gives her another perspective as a superintendent.