Send MessageDr. Leslye S. Abrutyn was appointed superintendent of the Penn-Delco School District in 1997. As superintendent, she oversaw the direction, growth and educational effectiveness of four elementary schools, a middle school and a high school. Dr. Leslye Abrutyn was also the liaison for the three municipalities that comprise the District, which is home to about 26,000 residents. Located about 15 miles southwest of Philadelphia in Delaware County, Pa., PDSD is the community’s largest employer. The District has an operating budget of more than $44 million, a staff of 25 administrators, and more than 500 employees to serve a student population of 3,300.
Penn-Delco School District Responsibilities and Achievements
Dr. Leslye Abrutyn’s responsibilities included oversight of the development and implementation of the educational curriculum, technology, finance, human resources, legal, transportation, facilities, public relations, and community outreach. In addition, Dr. Leslye Abrutyn ensured the District’s compliance with state and federal policies and mandates.
As the District’s educational leader, Dr. Leslye Abrutyn analyzed academic performance and initiated steps for continuous educational improvement. Reporting directly to the Penn-Delco School Board of Directors, Dr. Leslye Abrutyn conducted monthly public school board meetings and provided information to the community via local cable television as well as through community newsletters, seminars and special events. Dr. Leslye Abrutyn was also a member of community-based boards and committees.
Dr. Leslye Abrutyn helped raise the national profile of the Penn-Delco School District, in part through her presentation of a paper entitled “Using Technology to Improve Achievement, Accountability and Public Support” at the 2001 Technology + Learning Conference. The T+L Conference is an annual event focusing on educational technology for district leadership teams, organized by the National School Boards Association.
Under Dr. Leslye Abrutyn’s leadership, the Penn-Delco School District was selected by the Milken Foundation as a case study for effective use of technology in schools. Four of the District’s schools were among only 18 nationwide to be named in the Computer Curriculum Corporation’s Honor Roll in 2001.
Awards and Publications
Dr. Leslye Abrutyn has achieved many personal honors over the years. Among them:
• Recipient of the “John Kresovich Award for Innovation and Instruction in the Use of Technology” from the Pennsylvania Association for School Administrators, and induction into Temple University’s Education Hall of Fame “Galley of Success,” 1999;
• Recipient of the Friends of Delaware County Women’s Commission Spirit of Excellence Award for Individual Business Achievement, 2003;
• Recipient of the March of Dimes Delaware County Salute to Women of Achievement Honoree for Education, 2003;
• In 2006, Dr. Leslye Abrutyn was selected from more than 35,000 School of Education alumni of Boston University to receive the Dean Arthur Herbert Wilde Society Award for service to the profession;
• In 2007, Dr. Leslye Abrutyn was invited to be one of the nation’s first superintendents to testify before Congress on her views on the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act.
Dr. Leslye Abrutyn has authored and co-authored numerous publications. Two outstanding examples are a book co-written with famed educational expert Charlotte Danielson titled “An Introduction to Using Portfolios in the Classroom” (1997, published in English, Spanish and Chinese); and “The Teacher Newsletter and Parent Involvement: A Case Study of Content Defined by Parents and Teachers” (1997). In addition, in 2007, the Association for Curriculum and Development published Dr. Leslye Abrutyn’s article “The Most Important Data” in its flagship publication, Educational Leadership.
Board Positions and Association Activities
Dr. Leslye Abrutyn has actively contributed to the field of education and to her community by holding a number of board positions and memberships in numerous organizations over the years. Among them:
• Dr. Leslye Abrutyn served as the president of the Women’s Caucus of the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators.
• Dr. Leslye Abrutyn served as an executive board member of the Standard and Poor’s School Evaluation Services (SES), was an Advisory Board member for the Middle States Accreditation For Growth (AFG) Commission on Secondary Schools.
• Dr. Leslye Abrutyn served as an Advisory Board member for the first International Technology and Learning Conference in 2001, Atlanta.
• Dr. Leslye Abrutyn served as an editorial advisory panel member for District Administrator magazine.
• Dr. Leslye Abrutyn was a member of the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), the Pennsylvania Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (PASCD), the Pennsylvania Association of Secondary School Principals (PASSP), and the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators (PASA).
• Dr. Leslye Abrutyn was a charter member and served on the assessment sub-committee for the New Standards Consortium, a five-county consortium of school districts working in conjunction with the Center for Greater Philadelphia to secure grant monies and bring higher standards to schools through the use of the New Standard program.
Educational Background
Dr. Leslye Abrutyn received her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Boston University, and a master’s degree in special education and a doctorate in educational leadership from Temple University. Dr. Leslye Abrutyn has also earned certification in reading from the University of Pennsylvania and secondary school administration from Temple University. She has completed a certification program for Letter of Eligibility from Arcadia University.
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