Hollidaysburg Area High School Principal Maureen Letcher (left) talks with Dean of Students Dawn Eckenrode in the school’s conference room. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

HOLLIDAYSBURG — The head of Hollidaysburg Area High School now will be leading the Pennsylvania Principals Association as president.

Maureen Letcher will serve in that position from 2022-24. She has been a member of the association for 22 years.

“During my term, I will advocate for our members. I will do all I can to implement a support system for principals and assistant principals, and I will ensure that they feel valued, for it is the roles that they play in our districts that have made and will continue to make the education system in Pennsylvania to be one of the best that this country has to offer,” Letcher said.

She has served on the Pennsylvania Principals board as the Central III Secondary Regional representative from 2018-19.

Letcher began as Hollidaysburg high school principal in mid-2013.

“Dr. Letcher has displayed her excellent leadership abilities at the local level as principal of Hollidaysburg Area Senior High School. Her leadership has spread throughout the southwest region of Pennsylvania, as she serves as a mentor and colleague to many administrators in that area,” said Eric C. Eshbach, PPA executive director.

Letcher grew up in Cresson and graduated from Bishop Carroll High School in 1990.

She earned a Bachelor of Science in secondary education English with a minor in political science from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. She received a Master of Science in secondary guidance counseling, her principal certification and a doctorate in administrative leadership from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

When she started, teaching positions weren’t easy to get.

“While teaching, I also did adolescent and family therapy in the evening. I was a behavioral specialist; that made me a much better teacher. My counseling background has been very important to my teaching,” Letcher said.

She started out as a substitute teacher in the Forest Hills and Central Cambria school districts before being hired as an English teacher at Williamsburg High School in 1996.

Letcher said she assumed that some day she would get into administrative work and obtained her principal’s certification “just to have it.”

When Daren Johnston left, she became principal at Williamsburg in 2001.

“It fell into my lap,” Letcher said. “I was only 28. I kept teaching. I was the only English teacher who had a master’s degree to teach the dual enrollment program. In the fall, I taught college speech and freshman composition.”

The Williamsburg job was important for her career.

“Being an administrator in a small school district, you do everything. … You learn every facet of the school,” Letcher said.

She became Hollidaysburg junior high school assistant principal in 2009-10 and high school principal in 2013-14.

“The students are my favorite part of the job. My faculty is unbelievable. … They are here for the right reason, the students,” Letcher said.

She enjoys working with assistant principal Mark Harrington and Dawn Eckenrode, dean of students.

Both Eckenrode and Harrington are impressed with Letcher.

“Maureen is an excellent administrator, and I always feel supported. She encourages empathy, fosters a growth mindset and supports students, faculty and staff. She fosters respectful and caring relationships and promotes a positive school environment,” Eckenrode said.

Harrington said, “Maureen has never been afraid to take on new challenges or try new ideas which have helped earn Hollidaysburg Senior High School the National Blue Ribbon award.”

Superintendent Robert Gildea said he has worked with some of the strongest female educational leaders in the state. “Dr. Letcher is certainly their equal. She possesses a unique combination of skills which, in turn, enables her to empower the people around her to become the best they can be,” Gildea said.

In the community, she is a member of the Blair County Principals Association and has served as its chair since 2001. She is a member of the Hollidaysburg Rotary Club and serves on the boards of Hollidaysburg Community Partnership and the Women’s Caucus of the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators.

Letcher said she is in education for one reason — the kids — but she is most proud of being a mother.

“I love kids, the connection with students; that’s why I am still here. What I want is to be known as a good mom; that is my No. 1 job, being a mom,” Letcher said. “My role model was my mom (Dorothy Letcher); she was an amazing person and an amazing educator.”

She credits others for her career success.

“It is the people around me, the amazing people with whom I work, the people around me,” Letcher said.

Letcher plans to work for several more years.

“I won’t go anywhere until my youngest son graduates. He is a sophomore. I love my position, I may stay here until I retire,” Letcher said.

Mirror Staff Writer Walt Frank is at 814-946-7467.

The Letcher file

Name: Maureen Letcher

Age: 50

Position: President of the Pennsylvania Principals Association and principal at Hollidaysburg Area Senior High School.

Family: Husband, Richard Baronner; children, Maxwell and Mitchell Baronner.

Quote: “I have true passion for the work that principals do.”