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Wednesday, July 23, 2003

By Al Lowe, Tri-State Sports & News Service

Stephen P. Puskar, Baldwin High School's new principal, is replacing Jan Garda, who retired after serving longer as principal than anyone else has since 1940.

	Stephen P. Puskar, former vice principal and now principal of Baldwin High School, during an interview in one of the classrooms at the school. (Martha Rial, Post-Gazette)

Jean Luczak, a secretary, examined old yearbooks and informed Garda before he left that his 13-year tenure had been the longest.

"I have some big shoes to fill," Puskar said.

But Garda said Puskar doesn't have to worry. "He'll leave his own footprints in the snow."

Garda's advice to him was, "The students are always first," Puskar said.

Puskar, 36, was one of the three vice principals and spent a lot of time in the classrooms and promises to continue to do so. "You have to talk to the students and get the pulse of the building," he said.

He said Garda, 58, pointed out to him there are many possible distractions in students' lives and that their job was to "build walls around the students," to provide a safe, nurturing learning environment.

Previously, Puskar, who lives in Cheswick, was an assistant principal at the Allegheny Valley School District and a teacher at Burrell School District in Westmoreland County, Slippery Rock School District in Butler County and St. Mary's Area School District in Elk County.

He and the three Baldwin vice principals serve as a team dealing with the many day-to-day problems. Only in the summer is he able to take a lunch break.

Garda enjoyed a brief vacation after 33 years in education before starting a new job.

He and other relatives visited the sites of Civil War battles in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

He started work last week as a consultant for Washington Community Mental Health Mental Retardation Center Inc. and will work with counselors and principals in the Washington County area regarding special education programs.

Garda thinks the biggest challenge ahead for Puskar and the Baldwin-Whitehall district is the planned high school renovation in 2005. "It is hard to provide 2000 education in a 1960s building. It is hard to add technology when it won't fit in the room."

But Garda has received many compliments about the district's high-quality education program from past graduates.

"I ask them if we did a good job. I never had one yet tell me we didn't."