Nov 2, 2019 3 min read

Bentworth School District Superintendent Scott Martin has been selected as the recipient of the 2019 Innovative School Leader Award by the Pennsylvania School Board Association in recognition of his innovative administrative leadership.

The award is presented to a school administrator who has demonstrated outstanding educational leadership and is making significant contributions to educational administration in a school district.

Martin credited the staff, administration, board of education, students and community, and said the award is a reflection of the collaborative team effort.

“It’s not about the individual. This award comes back to the staff believing in what we’re doing, and doing it together,” said Martin. “We’ve worked hard to build a culture where we all work together. Having consistency of teachers and administrators, and the support of the parents, has been so beneficial.”

The goal of the school district – and Martin – is to create an educational environment that meets the academic, athletic, cultural and social needs of students, and prepares all students for their future.

In 2015, the high school received the National Blue Ribbon Award for student growth; the middle school was recognized as a School to Watch in 2016 and 2019, and the elementary school was recognized as a Title I Distinguished School in 2018 and has been noted for the school’s work in the area of reading and dyslexia.

“Bentworth has the culture and attitude that we can teach every student, and everyone’s accepted. It’s a matter of accepting everyone and working with them where they are,” said Martin. “That’s important. They may not always be where the state says they should be according to standardized testing, but you begin where they are and take them further.”

Martin is a regular presence at the district’s elementary, middle and high schools, where he tries to visit classrooms daily.

How do you know the needs of the teachers and students, he asked, if you don’t spend time with them?

Martin noted the irony of the amount of time he spends walking the school corridors: he was a less than enthusiastic student who didn’t like school.

But his father, a coal miner, and mother, wanted him to go to college.

On the occasions his father was laid off, Martin was expected to work odd jobs with him – hauling coal, fixing toilets and digging graves.

“My parents always wanted their children to do better than they did,” said Martin, who credits his parents for instilling in him a work ethic and an appreciation for the value of education.

Martin, who received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from West Virginia University, served in the U.S. Army National Guard. He became superintendent at Bentworth in 2013, where he also served as assistant superintendent for six years.

He was the director of special education and an elementary special education teacher in Morgantown, W.Va., and North Carolina. He was an adjunct professor at WVU, and has a Superintendent’s letter of eligibility from Edinboro University.

Martin has built good working relationships with the teachers union, parents, administrators and community.

“I will jump in and help anyone with anything. I believe we all need to work together to accomplish our goals and I’m more than willing to do that. I want to build that culture of trust and security, where everyone feels valued,” said Martin. “We have to prepare our kids for the world and their role in it. The kids are why we’re here.”