Boyce Middle School Principal Retiring

Boyce Middle School Principal Karen Brown might be retiring in a few weeks after a distinguished 38-year career, but she doesn’t expect to have much down time.

She’s planning her daughter’s wedding, getting her son ready to move to Chicago for grad school and preparing for a trip to Italy in September.

Of course, she also plans to play a little golf in her free time.

“A lot of things will keep me busy for a while,” Brown said about her retirement at the end of this school year.

Brown worked her way through the Upper St. Clair school system in a lengthy career that began as a fifth grade teacher and is ending with numerous accomplishments as Boyce Middle School’s principal.

Brown began working for USC in 1973 at Eisenhower Elementary, where she taught fifth grade for a dozen years. She later moved to Boyce for eight years before moving to Ft. Couch to teach seventh grade math for a year and working as the school’s gifted coordinator for several years. She’s been principal at Boyce since 2000.

“I have wonderful memories here,” she said of the school district. “It’s been like an extended family for me.”

Brown said she’s proud of the many accomplishments during her career.

She pointed to the Boyce Middle School renovation that was recently completed. There have also been changes to staff development and reorganizing the fifth and six grades.

Brown said she’s pleased with her career, but she’ll miss the students, teachers and staff that have she’s made connections to over the years.

“I’m certainly looking forward to the new things I’ll get to do,” Brown said. “But I’ll miss being around the kids and people. It won’t be the same not having the kids around you after doing this for 38 years. It will seem funny not doing that.”