Back to School

New superintendent for McKeesport ready to start school year Friday

MCKEESPORT, Pa. — McKeesport is one of three area school districts heading back-to-school Friday.

School leaders said they are starting then to work out the kinks in transportation issues.

But this school year, there is a new school superintendent excited about the new year.

“We look forward to greeting them with a smile and hope they have a successful year,” said Mark Holtzman, who is starting his first year as district superintendent.

One of his goals this school year is to help better prepare principals to be successful and he wants to be more visible showing support to staff and students.

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“Reinventing the superintendent’s position by being more visible and actively involved,” Holtzman said.

Holtzman admits the biggest hurdle this school year is finding funding to help educate the 3,500 students in the district.

“We are often times competing for students with charter schools, one of our challenges financially for us,” he said. “We have to support our school district by paying charter schools tuition, which limits our resources.”

Holtzman said they're doing more with less, but won’t use it as an excuse to provide a top-notch education to all students.

“I am overly excited to be the leader of the school district,” Holtzman said. “I think leadership, strength in numbers is important.”