Saucon Valley High School (FILE PHOTO)
When Dr. Margaret A. “Peggy” Smith became superintendent of the Saucon Valley School District in the early 1980s, it was as both a trailblazer and a role model. Not only was she the first woman to lead the district, but she was also someone who pursued a career as a public school administrator at a time when relatively few women entered the field.
Smith, 81, died last month surrounded by her family in Port Orange, Fla., and though it has been many years since she was a part of the Saucon Valley community, some of the people who worked with her in the district are remembering her tenure with admiration.
Lower Saucon Township resident Clare Filko was a Saucon Valley school board member when Smith was hired and served on the search committee that helped bring her to Hellertown.
“She broke the glass ceiling so many times,” said Filko of Smith. “Saucon was lucky to have her.”
“She knew the power of education, she cared about children–and adults,” she added. “She spent her life helping people succeed… She is still respected and fondly remembered by many in Saucon Valley, and she was a dear friend of education and mine.”
A native of Grove City, Pa., Smith undertook undergraduate studies at Kent State University in Ohio and Central State University in Oklahoma before earning a Bachelor’s degree from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in 1964, according to her obituary, which was published online and in Florida newspapers in late June.
The obituary noted that she was the first person in her family to graduate from a four-year college, after which Smith went on to earn a Master’s degree in Counselor Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1971 and a Doctorate in Educational Administration degree from The Pennsylvania State University in 1975.
In addition to Saucon Valley, she was employed as an administrator in the Avon Grove, Wissahickon and Hempfield Area school districts in Pennsylvania, and in Florida, it said.
Smith also served as the Pennsylvania state Secretary of Education in the mid-1980s.