Pennsbury Administrator Retires After 40-Year Journey

Sherwood Taylor has worked in the Pennsbury School District for 40 years, and Wednesday was his last day on the job.

He has been an employee of the district since 1977, when he started as a shipping and receiving clerk. Since that initial position, he has been an attendance officer, chief of security and finally, the director of administrative services for the district since 2008.

Taylor is known throughout the community for his near-encyclopedic knowledge of Pennsbury.

“To me, the most important thing that ever happen to me,” Taylor explained, is when kids come up to him in stores and in public, years after they left his care. They will often ask if he remembers them and when he doesn’t, they assure him that is fine and that they want to thank him for helping to get them in line as kids.

When that happens, it really means a lot, Taylor said.

Pennsbury was the first district in the area to offer an alternative school due to efforts from Taylor. When it was live, the first student Taylor worked with was someone he coached in baseball. The boy had dropped out of school. Contacting the boy and his parents, Taylor asked the family to make a deal. If he came back for a year, they would get him his diploma.

He returned and received his diploma and since then, Taylor said.

“Everything we are doing at the central office is to make things better for the kids,” Taylor explained.

As the director of administrative services, he might not have seen kids every day, but they were still at the center of his mission.

Whenever he wanted a reality check to bring him back to the center of his mission, he just needed to take a trip to one of the schools to see the kids. Then it becomes real again, Taylor explained.

“We believe in Pennsbury – in the kids and the staff and I am just very proud to have worked here,” Taylor said.

While Taylor is ready to finish a 40-year-long career with the district, he has big plans for retirement life. Recently, Taylor has gone back to fire school to become re-certified as a driver. He will be volunteering and driving fire trucks during the day in Falls Township. He also has a number of outdoor hobbies, including gardening, he said.

Taylor maybe looking to stay busy post-retirement, but walking away from the job isn’t going to be easy, he said.

“You would be a fool to say it wouldn’t be hard t walk away,” Taylor said.

Administrator Elizabeth Aldridge will be taking on Taylor’s job in the district. Aldridge started as a high school teacher and has worked her way through the ranks.

“Sherwood has touched a lot of lives over the years, of both kids and staff,” said Ann Langtry, the coordinator of communications at Pennsbury.

On June 24, Taylor was honored at a dinner at the Knights of Columbus, where more than 200 attendees honored the retiree.

“It was a humbling evening, and I appreciated the night. It was one of the greatest nights of my life,” Taylor said.

Among those in attendance were many of the police and fire authorities from the area. Taylor was the liaison between the district and emergency services. Even though they were honoring Taylor, he made it clear that he needed them to do his job.

“I have worked with some of these people for 29 years,” Taylor said. “They are my family.”

“If they called and needed me, I felt accepted and part of everyone’s team,” Taylor said, remembering that when principals from the district schools would call and apologize for bothering him.

It is pretty clear that although his official career with the district is over, he won’t be forgotten by his work family.