NORTHAMPTON, Pa. — Northampton Area School District Superintendent Joseph Kovalchik will retire at the end of this school year after leading the district for 15 years.
School directors on Monday approved Kovalchik’s retirement, effective July 1.
“I have some more work to do — if the board would like me to continue to do that work, that’s up to them,” Kovalchik, 57, said. “If they just want me to be a figurehead, that’s fine.
“I’ll have much to say at some point about a whole host of issues about the school district because I am a taxpayer, as well."
His retirement comes at a time when the district is managing multiple facilities projects and tensions at school board meetings frequently are high.
The district is in the middle of building a new East Allen Elementary School and an education center. The buildings are slated to open by the 2026-27 academic year and will cost the district $75.9 million.
The construction project and conversations about whether to keep Moore Elementary School open have led to contentious school board meetings over the past year, and frustration from Kovalchik, who previously said he was seeking direction from school directors on how many elementary schools they wanted to have.
“I know this board of education and this school district have many, many, many challenges ahead of them."Northampton Area School District Superintendent
The school board ultimately decided to keep Moore open and operate five elementary schools.
School Director Kim Bretzik’s husband also is suing Kovalchik, as well as some school directors and district staff, over a 2022 incident in which he was removed from a board meeting.
Additionally, school directors are regularly at odds with each other on a host of issues at meetings, and public discussions often grow heated.
“I know this board of education and this school district have many, many, many challenges ahead of them,” Kovalchik said Monday.
Leadership transitions
After the board meeting, Kovalchik told LehighValleyNews.com the district faces facilities, financial and societal challenges.
He said school districts are a “microcosm of society,” and people no longer want to “meet in the middle.”
Throughout the past couple years, other local districts have experienced similar pressures, and there have been many transitions at the superintendent level throughout Lehigh Valley.
Most recently, Whitehall-Coplay Superintendent Robert Steckel announced in September he was resigning. Before that, Nazareth Area School Board announced in August the district would part ways with former Superintendent Richard Kaskey, who only started on the job in 2022.
The next steps
As for Northampton Area’s next steps, school directors did not publicly announce Monday how they plan to select a new chief of schools.
Kovalchik told LehighValleyNews.com he won’t be involved in the process.
“That’s a board decision [on] how they want to handle that,” he said.
While he said he’s not ready to spend too much time reflecting on his career just yet, residents and school directors took it upon themselves to honor Kovalchik's service.
The longtime superintendent got a standing ovation from residents at Monday's meeting. Current and former school directors also celebrated his work.
Kovalchik started as a health and physical education teacher at Northampton Area High School and served in various administrator roles before becoming chief of schools.
He’s also a 1986 graduate of the district.
'You will be missed'
“He seems to be everyone’s role model,” Board President Doug Vaughn said. “He always thinks about what he’s going to do, and he always does what he believes is the right thing.”
“He always thinks about what he’s going to do, and he always does what he believes is the right thing."Northampton Area School Board President Doug Vaughn
School Director Michael Baird, a former Northampton Area administrator, was a colleague of Kovalchik at the district high school in the 1990s.
“I think I did say to you in your office one day you were going to be superintendent some day in the school district,” Baird said. “And I guess I proved myself right.”
Baird said Kovalchik has done a "terrific job" leading the district.
Former school director and retired Northampton Area teacher Robert Mentzell also praised Kovalchik’s tenure during the meeting's public comment section.
Mentzell highlighted Kovalchik’s personal history as a Konkrete Kid.
“This added dimension of knowing the school district inside and out is invaluable,” Mentzell said. “You can’t put a price on it.
"This institutional knowledge, plus the continuity of leadership has been critical for our district's success and progress.”
“You can’t put a price on it. This institutional knowledge, plus the continuity of leadership has been critical for our district's success and progress.”Robert Mentzell, former school director and retired Northampton Area teacher
Mentzell commended Kovalchik for building a “solid and capable” administration to lead the district and always hiring the “best qualified” teachers to lead the classroom.
“After July 1st, you will be missed,” Mentzell said.
Also retiring next summer, Kovalchik’s wife Terry will leave her role with the district as a middle school reading specialist. She has worked with students from first to eighth grades over her decades-long career.
Together, the Kovalchiks have spent a combined 65 years as educators.
