Credit: Submitted
Bristol Township School District Superintendent Dr. Melanie Gehrens will retire at the end of the school year.
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Gehrens shared the news at Tuesday evening’s school board meeting.
She told the public she had prepared to retire two years ago, but she placed that plan on hold due to the pandemic.
With emotion in her voice, Gehrens said her time at the district has been a “wonderful journey together.”
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Gehrens thanked the board, the district, and community for their support. She called the township a “community of heroes.” She praised the students and staff she has encountered over 14 years at the district, including seven as the district’s leader.
The superintendent will remain in place through the end of the school year.
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“Now my time has come to focus on modeling what I have been sharing with others by taking care of myself and family. In short, it is time for me to retire,” she said.
“Thank you again for this amazing opportunity and our journey together,” she stated.
Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
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In 2020, Gehrens signed a new contract with the school board. She was to be paid nearly $178,000 per year in the deal that was set to run from July 2020 to June 2025.
School Board President James Morgan commended Gehrens for her leadership, especially during the ever-changing pandemic.
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“Did we make some mistakes? Sure we did, but we made a lot of rights and it is all because of her,” Morgan said.
In addition to the pandemic, the outgoing superintendent has seen the district through the opening of new elementary schools, embarking on reworking the middle schools, adjusting curriculum, contracts with staff unions, and steadying the district’s finances.
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Gehrens came to Bristol Township in the mid-2000s after working for the Morrisville School District. She had worked as the supervisor of secondary curriculum and instruction in Bristol Township since 2008.
Gehrens was hired as superintendent in late 2015 to fill the post left vacant when Superintendent Dr. Sam Lee was hired to lead the Bensalem Township School District.
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