Jun 4, 2014 3 min read

MAPLETOWN – Southeastern Greene School Board will be looking for a new superintendent after William Henderson, the district’s head administrator for the last four years, was hired Tuesday night as superintendent of Frazier School District.

“It’s a little bittersweet for me,” Henderson said Wednesday, reached at the Southeastern Greene administration office. “This place has been fantastic to work at; the board has been 100 percent supportive and I couldn’t ask for a better place to serve my first job as a superintendent.”

However, Henderson said, he also couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go to Frazier.

Henderson, 39, said he is already familiar with Frazier School District, having taught there earlier in his career, and the district is much closer to his home in Charleroi, a 20-minute commute to Perryopolis compared to a 50-minute commute to Mapletown.

In addition, he said, being able to serve as superintendent of a district with almost twice the number of students as Southeastern Greene is a “professional opportunity” he could not let pass.

After teaching for a year at a school in Maryland, Henderson worked about seven years at Frazier as a health and physical education instructor, athletic director and acting principal. He also was an assistant varsity football coach and softball coach.

Henderson then served as a principal and federal programs coordinator at Charleroi Elementary School and a middle school principal at Bethlehem-Center before being hired as superintendent at Southeastern Greene in April 2010.

During his time at Southeastern, Henderson said he oversaw many changes. They included updating the curriculum, adding special education classes, updating technology, instituting block scheduling at the high school and transitioning staff to the Common Core curriculum.

“Since I came here, the staff has worked very diligently to improve the educational program,” he said, “and the board has focused always on what is best for the kids.” Leaving the district “wasn’t an easy decision to make, trust me,” he said.

Henderson said he gave the Southeastern Greene board his resignation notice Wednesday and had informed board President Joe Spiker that he was being considered for the position at Frazier prior to his hiring Tuesday night. Spiker could not be reached Wednesday afternoon for comment.

Under his contract with Southeastern Greene, Henderson is required to give the board 60 days notice. He said he believes the board will soon be scheduling a personnel committee meeting to begin moving forward with its search for his replacement.