UPDATED: Keystone Oaks Superintendent To Retire In December

Dr. William F. Urbanek, the superintendent of the Keystone Oaks School District, will retire in December after working for the district for the past 36 years.

The announcement came during Keystone Oaks' monthly school board’s meeting Thursday night.

Urbanek, who became KO’s seventh superintendent in March 2005, is retiring to spend more time with his wife, Diane, a longtime district teacher who retired at the end of the 2009-2010 school year.

Urbanek, 57, joined the district as a middle school English teacher in October 1978. Then, he served as a high school English teacher, elementary and secondary school guidance counselor, elementary and secondary school psychologist, assistant high school principal,
elementary school principal and assistant superintendent before assuming his current post in 2005. He has also coached many Golden Eagle athletic teams.

"I never could hold down a job," Urbanek joked, adding that now is the perfect time for him to walk away.

"Over the past few years, the directive from the school board to me and my team of administrators was to improve the district's academic reputation and to help position it well for the future," said Urbanek.

"I think with all five schools achieving AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) status on the PSSA's (Pennsylvania System of School Assessment), and with honors like Aiken Elementary School's Blue Ribbon Award—along with our formulation of a solid consolidation plan that can be implemented next year or at any time in the future—it is clear that we have achieved those objectives and that is very gratifying and a credit to everyone involved in making those goals a reality."

A Green Tree native and 1972 KO alum, Urbanek has spent all but 11 years of his life associated with the district either as a student or in a professional capacity. He is also one of the few superintendents in the entire Commonwealth to lead his alma mater.

"When I was growing up I never dreamt that I would work in the district much less serve as its superintendent," said Urbanek. "I am so proud to be a product of the Keystone Oaks School District and prouder still to have served it for so many years in various professional roles."

The district has approximately 2,050 students, 246 full-time staff members and an annual operating budget of just under $35 million.

Keystone Oaks School District superintendents through the years:

• Mr. Jay Neff—July 1, 1964 to April 15, 1966

• Dr. James S. Ackelson—July 1, 1966 to June 30, 1974

• Dr. Harry R. Faulk—July 1, 1974 to June 30, 1978

• Dr. John C. Black—July 1, 1978 to June 30, 1986

• Dr. Chet C. Kent—July 1, 1986 to June 30, 1997

• Dr. Carl J. DeJulio—Aug. 18, 1997 to March 4, 2005

• Dr. William F. Urbanek—March 5, 2005 to Dec. 7, 2011