School District Administration
Upper Dublin School District’s Supervising Principal
Prior to 1970, each county had a superintendent of schools. In Montgomery County, there were at least three in this period: Abram Kulp (1924-1954), George Hottenstein (1955-1957), and Dr. Allen C. Harman (1963-1970). Pursuant to state law, they were selected by the representatives of the school districts within the county.
Pennsylvania’s Act 14 of 1949 and its predecessor school law required each school district of the Third and Fourth Class (Upper Dublin was included in this classification by reason of its pupil census) have a supervising principal.
James Howard Buck served as supervisory principal of the Upper Dublin School District from the 1920s until 1945.96
Appointed as the district’s supervising principal in 1945, Dr. Walter W. Eshelman helped to champion construction of a high school and served as supervising principal during construction of new building (begun in 1948 and completed in 1951) and, further, the offering of kindergarten.
While continuing to serve as supervising principal, Eshelman, a resident of Lower Gwynedd, served on the board of the American Association of School Administrators, a variety of other national organizations related to school administration.
He was elected president of local and Pennsylvania’s district branches of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, chairman of the resolutions committee of the NEA, vice-president of the NEA, and, in 1959, was elected President of the National Education Association, Washington, DC (see Charles Moritz, ed., Current Biography Yearbook 1960 (1960) for Dr. Eshelman’s comprehensive biography, citing Michigan Education J., vol. 37, Issue 5 (1959) and New York Times , July 4, 1959, p. 16, and UDHS’ 1960 Yearbook for his cv), for a one-year term. (New York Times, March 4,1959 re: his ascension to presidency of NEA). At that time NEA was focused on promoting national support public education just as the “Space Race” with the then Soviet Union was beginning to swell support for public education, in particular, science education.
Among his many public statements at numerous conferences around the country during that time both before and after assuming positions at the NEA, Dr. Eshelman testified in favor of devoting substantial evening television programming to educational matters. He also led the NEA when it made its first statement on racial integration in schools, viewed as a noted accomplishment in view of continuing hostility to Brown v. Board of Education in many areas of the country. CITES
As discussed elsewhere, in the late 1950s Pennsylvania was debating consolidation of school districts. As discussed elsewhere the then Upper Dublin School Board president Jack Robbins was an outspoken advocate for preserving Upper Dublin as a school district. It is unknown whether Dr. Eshelman had any role in that effort or whether his involvement with the NEA was viewed as helpful or harmful to that cause. However, it can certainly be said that, in large measure due to Dr. Eshelman’s prominence and to a lesser extent School Board president Robbins’ controversial testimony, Upper Dublin was likely one of the best-known suburban school districts in Pennsylvania, if not the country, at the time.
After his tenure at the NEA ended, Eshelman was appointed by President Kennedy in 1963 to serve on the advisory committee to the Air Force Academy, more formally known as its Board of Visitors. So far as can be ascertained, Dr. Eshelman’s last public act appears to have been at a July 27,1970 meeting of the Upper Dublin Board of Commissioners when he appeared as the representative of the Upper Dublin School Board to discuss school land use issues.
In 1969 the Legislature passed a bill (signed into law in January 1970) requiring school districts to have a superintendent (also titled chief school administrator).97 The 1969 Act ended Pennsylvania’s more than eighty-year-old system of county superintendents of education (adopted at a time that compulsory education was first required by state law.) That county-by-county system of public education (like that still in effect in Maryland) had annual meetings of the supervising principals or other person in charge of local schools with the county superintendent who would then issue a report to the State. The new system recognized self-management of the then 503, now 500, Pennsylvania school districts and the thousands of private and parochial schools.
With the change in state law, in 1970 Eshelman was appointed by the Upper Dublin School Board as Upper Dublin’s first superintendent. Eshelman obituary, Philadelphia Inquirer, May 16, 1971 at p. 56.
District Superintendents after Eshelman:
Dr. Clair “Bud” Brown, Jr. (1971-2001)
Jen Gomez, Upper Dublin District Superintendent is Under Fire, Phila. Inquirer, May 19, 1983 at N15.
Brown never down: Upper Dublin educator steps down, Times Herald (May 14, 2000); Adam Greenberg, UD school board Oks early exit for superintendent, Ambler Gazette (Dec. 12, 2000); Melia Brown, Upper Dublin Still in Search of Schools Chief; With Clair G. Brown’s departure nearing, Phila. Inquirer, Feb. 14, 2001, at B4.
Clair Brown’s 30-years as supervising principal and superintendent-maybe have been or remains longest tenure for chief administrator of a school district in Pa.; but trend has been to shorter and shorter tenures: Crystal Cranmore, High Superintendent turnover rate in PA, PAHome Page (Dec. 6, 2017).98
Dr. William Leary, Acting Superintendent (2001)
Michael Steven Wilcox (2001-2004)
Adam Greenberg, Upper Dublin names Wilcox new superintendent, The Reporter, May 15, 2001.
Wilcox was terminated after it was disclosed that there were ethics issues arising from his former assistant principal position with another school district. Ultimately, he was charged with theft from that district. Bill Turque, Assistant Principal Charged With Theft: $28,000 Allegedly Taken In Pa. System, Washington Post, June 26, 2006, and ultimately he lost his certification by the Pennsylvania’s State Board of Education.
John Krebl, Acting Superintendent (2004)
Dr. Michael Pladus (2004-2014) (retired)
Dr. Pladus is a Japanese-American; he was the first and only non-Caucasian to lead the Upper Dublin School District.
Dr. Deborah Wheeler (2014-2017) (retired)
Dr. Steven Yanni (2017-2023) (resigned to become Lower Merion School District superintendent)
2022 recipient of the Patricia J. Creegan award from Pennsylvania's Education for All Coalition (PEAC). The Creegan award is given to an education professional who demonstrates outstanding commitment to inclusive education.
Marykay Feeley, Interim Superintendent (2023)
Dr. Laurie Smith (2023- )