BERNARDSTON — Bob Clancy, principal of both Bernardston Elementary School and Leyden’s Pearl Rhodes Elementary School, is retiring at the end of June.
A replacement has not yet been selected, Pioneer Valley Regional School District Superintendent Jon Scagel said at a School Committee meeting on Thursday. The hiring is being done through an internal search committee, and not in public. Scagel said that a preliminary round of interviews has been done.
Unlike Clancy, the new principal will work only at Bernardston Elementary School. In the Pioneer school district’s efforts to become financially sustainable, the School Committee voted to close Pearl Rhodes this spring. Friday was its last day in operation.
As for Clancy, he said he is entering retirement “with a little bit of nervousness,” adding that it will be odd, at 63 years old, to not have a job for the first time since he was a teenager.
However, he is looking forward to having more time for hobbies like skydiving, flying, beekeeping and traveling. Clancy plans on staying in the area, and lives in Rowe.
Clancy was in the Pioneer school district since 2011, originally as the principal of Bernardston Elementary School. Before that, he had been the principal of Rowe Elementary School since 1997.
After Pearl Rhodes Principal Deanna Leblanc resigned in the summer of 2017, Clancy took on the role as Pearl Rhodes principal as well, splitting his time between the Bernardston and Leyden schools.
“I’ve worked with awesome kids and great staff,” Clancy said of his decades-long tenure.
During his time in Franklin County, Clancy said he learned a thing or two about the field.
“(I learned) to approach everything you do with warmth, caring and understanding,” Clancy said. “You always have to do it for the kids.”
Reach Max Marcus at mmarcus@recorder.com or 413-772-0261 ex 261.