A Penn State alumna is returning to the State College area to lead Mount Nittany Elementary School.
The State College School Board on Monday approved Beth Solensky as the new principal at the elementary school in College Township. She will succeed current principal Mark Feldman, who is retiring in June.
Solensky heads to SCASD from Ridge Wood Elementary School in Northville, Michigan, where she has been principal since 2018. Her 20-year elementary education career also includes time as a fifth grade teacher in the Northville Public Schools District, as well as positions in Hugo and Eden Prairie, Minnesota and Troy, Michigan.
“I am thrilled to be joining the Mount Nittany Elementary team,” Solensky said in a statement. “I am deeply passionate about fostering a positive and inclusive learning environment where every student will thrive. I look forward to serving alongside my SCASD colleagues and learning from them.”
After graduating from Penn State in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, Solensky taught English at a high school in South Korea as a Fulbright Scholar from 2000 to 2001. As a Fulbright Master Teacher, she traveled to Japan in 2004 to plan and implement English lessons, and held monthly video conferences with Japanese students for a year, according to a SCASD news release.
Solensky earned a master’s degree in reading and language arts from Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, in 2006, and received her elementary and secondary administrative certification from Michigan State in 2015.
In selecting Solensky for the position, the search committee considered input from Mount Nittany Elementary teachers and staff, parents, board members and administrators, Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education Danielle Yoder said.
Solensky was hired at a salary of $137,305 per year, according to human resources recommendations included in the agenda for Monday’s school board meeting.
She hopes to spend time at Mount Nittany Elementary before officially starting as principal on July 1.
Solensky is one of two new elementary principals appointed by the SCASD Board on Monday night. Kara Treweek was also hired to succeed the retiring Shelly Buckholtz as principal at Ferguson Elementary.
