Mrs. JoAnne Townsend started her career in education as a social studies teacher, first at Woodland Hills before moving to Taylor Allderdice. She went on to earn her principal certification from Carnegie Mellon University and became an assistant principal here at Shaler Area in 2004.

When Dr. Timothy Royall took a sabbatical leave this year, the opportunity to be the interim principal was presented to her. She is excited for the opportunity, but has no plans for any dramatic changes.

“We have a great system in place. My goal is to maintain the good system we have,” she said.

With her new position, Mrs. Townsend has taken on many new and more difficult responsibilities. She now has the responsibility of being the first person to receive phone calls about any concern, no matter the time.

“I have to be available 24/7. As an assistant, I was buffered from that. That availability and accessibility is a shift,” she said.

She also needs to be available to sign a lot of papers.

“My signature seems to be very important,” she said. “The amount of papers I sign in an 8-hour day is amazing.”

Mrs. Townsend never liked being in the spotlight. She never envied the principal’s responsibility of speaking at award ceremonies and being interviewed.

“I don’t like being the center of attention, so that’s a challenge,” she said. “I don’t envy the spotlight. Being in it makes me nervous.”

Mrs. Townsend isn’t alone in taking on a new position with more responsibility. Dr. Bryan O’Black is the new Superintendent, but while they are each in new positions, they are not unfamiliar with each other since they’ve been working as colleagues in Shaler Area for many years.

“We have worked long enough together. We understand each other’s values about education,” she said. “He cares deeply for this community. Because we’ve worked together for a long time and share similar values, it makes it easy to work together.”

One of the challenges that she faces is one that she has a lot of empathy for. Shaler Area has recently seen an increase in the number of new students coming from different countries and/or having English as a second language.

“My mother was not born and raised in this community. English is her second language. (I got to see) how my mother adjusted to a changing culture and not being with your friends and family,” Mrs. Townsend said. “I actually see how much harder that can be. My responsibility is to try to make them feel as included as possible and help them be calm.”

But she also thinks the students play a role in this as well.

“We have kids coming from charter schools, kids coming from city schools, kids coming from different states and countries. This is a good school. Really think about how you can embrace those students and make them feel part of our community.”

Mrs. Townsend not only understands the struggle these students face, but that it’s a struggle for every student regardless of background. Because of that, she aims to make sure that everyone is happy and comfortable when they come into school, as well as getting an education that will help them in the future.

“I like the opportunity to hopefully be a good principal and to support all of you and your education and to help all of you be more successful,” she said.

While she wants to be supportive, she also knows there are some unpopular stances that need to be taken. Mrs. Townsend understands the struggles students have staying focused at school as well. She believes one way to support students is through the “Off, Off and Away” program, where students should either have their phone in their backpack or tucked away in a caddy in classrooms for holding phones.

“Teachers care about you learning so added distractions in the class are just not appropriate,” she said. “(Phones have) positives, but when (they) are a distraction to your education we have a responsibility to teach you boundaries and teach you responsible use,” she said. “I will say the other thing is the drama. Who needs all the drama, right? How much of your social media use is not used for positive purposes? You see and read harmful things said to others so if we can minimize that, that’s something that’s important to me.”

When she is not at work, Mrs. Townsend said she is usually reading, running and binging Netflix (Mayor of Kingstown, most recently), but finding time away from work has not been easy as she pointed out when asked how things have gone so far.

“Busy. There’s a lot to think about,” she said. “I’m always afraid of forgetting something so I’m always writing things down.”

With all of her new duties and responsibilities, Mrs. Townsend expressed how she always wanted to have the opportunity to have a greater influence on students, but with this opportunity, she has been feeling the pressure of more responsibilities.

“You might think (my job) is just walking around and signing dance forms, but I lose sleep over being responsible for all of you.”

She’s made it clear that while she has new responsibilities and stress she feels lucky to be here and wants Shaler Area students to feel the same.

“It’s OK to enjoy school. We want you to enjoy school. Learning should be fun,” she said. “Coming to school with your friends should be enjoyable. This is such a good school. Don’t take for granted what a good school it is.”