Nov 10, 2014 3 min read

On Oct. 1, Dr. Jill Jacoby surpassed her childhood dream when she was officially hired by Fort Cherry School Board as the district’s new superintendent.

“My dad was an administrator for many years. I’ve wanted to be a principal since I was in the third grade,” Jacoby said. “I’ve moved on to bigger and better things.”

Jacoby spent the last 13 years as the Fort Cherry Elementary Center principal. When the top position became available in May after Superintendent Robert Dinnen retired, Jacoby naturally applied.

“I have a passion for curriculum and instruction,” she said. “I made a list of the district’s strengths and challenges. (The school board) had theirs. Together, we are chipping away.”

Jacoby was named as interim superintendent in July after an extensive search process, according to Jamie White, vice president of the board. Since that time, Jacoby made several changes within the district, including creating co-principals at the junior-senior high school.

“We are a smaller district, so having more close eyes on the students was important,” she said. “Now, we have principals dedicated at each grade level. We can hone in on the kids.”

Jacoby also has introduced a career pathway program for eighth-graders. The program identifies students’ interests prior to entering high school. Once a student’s interests are identified, a specific program geared around their goals is created.

“We have meetings with the students and their parents and make career-ready plans,” Jacoby said. “It gives students a better idea of what’s available to them and the best use of their time during high school. It’s a focused educational program.”

Jacoby also has been busy determining a project timeline for the district. The timeline is a three- to five-year plan that identifies necessary projects for the district’s infrastructure. Prior to the students returning for the new year, Jacoby said both buildings – the elementary center houses grades kindergarten through sixth, and the junior/senior high school houses grades seven to 12 – received new flooring and roofs.

“Our next step is to look at the maintenance, the heating and water systems and our boiler system,” she said. “We’ll determine what’s most important and go from there.”

Jacoby graduated from Bucknell University in Lewisburg in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education. In 2000, she received her master’s degree in school administration and curriculum instruction from the same university. Her family later moved to the Pittsburgh area, where Jacoby received her doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh in administration and policy studies in 2006. She spent several years teaching second and third grades in central Pennsylvania before moving to Fort Cherry.

White said the district is very pleased with Jacoby.

“She’s a natural leader. She is focused on student achievement and working with the entire staff toward achieving that goal,” he said. “It was a unanimous choice by the board, and we are all very happy with it.”

Jacoby’s goals include partnerships with other districts, both inside and outside the county, increasing revenue options and building the district’s curriculum. She also is working to get everyone on the “same page.”

“I want to create a friendly, family-working atmosphere,” she said. “Initiatives are in place to get everyone to be a team player.”

While she misses working more directly with the students, Jacoby said the transition has been easy.

“I love the opportunity to make changes in more realistic ways,” she said. “My decisions just don’t affect the elementary center. I love it.”