Dr. Meghan Murray has been an example of administrative excellence in her role of principal at Beaver Area High School for the past two years. Unfortunately, it’s now time for us to bid adieu to the Beaver Area alum as she moves on to a new position outside of the district.
Her last day as high school principal was October 15.
Before working in her administrative positions at Beaver Area, Dr. Murray was a math and English teacher in Florida and then the school director at Pittsburgh Obama Academy.
Dr. Murray was hired as Beaver Area’s assistant high school principal in 2015 (returning to her alma mater) and then graduated to acting principal in 2018, finally becoming full-time principal in the 2019-2020 school year.
In her newest position, Dr. Murray will be a Coordinator of School Improvement for Comprehensive Support in Allegheny County. She will be working directly with lower-scoring districts on the state’s Future Ready Index to help improve the schools and oversee the positive changes.
Her new job will have her analyzing data and diving deep into the numbers—something she’s particularly passionate about.
However, even with this new and exciting position, Dr. Murray is still going to miss being principal here at Beaver Area.
And that’s not surprising for someone who has enjoyed her time as principal: “they were all my favorite parts. There’s not just one. I loved working with the teachers. I had a lot of unique opportunities here. I was a student here, and when I came back I still had some of my teachers here, and then I got to work with them as colleagues,” she said.
But what’s school without the students: “The kids at Beaver are fantastic; it’s a great group of students. There’s just so many great things. It was one of the best experiences of my career.”
There have been some major changes here at the school since Dr. Murray has become the principal and a lot of it can be traced back to her desk.
“I hope that the school community has become more open. I know I’ve had a lot of open and honest conversations with kids, and that’s what you hope happens in a school culture. I hope that we have more students represented through clubs and activities that we’ve done here. I like to think that students and their voices are represented here a lot more. I hope that I made your voices a more integral part of our school culture,” she shared.
There are some advantages to her new job that she’s looking forward to.
“One of the things that I’ll be able to do at my next job that I wasn’t able to do in this job is spending a lot more time with my family. My kids are getting older and getting involved in varsity sports and those kinds of things, and it’s a lot of ‘Mom Time’ that I’ll get to have with them,” Dr. Murray explained.
That doesn’t mean Dr. Murray will be completely gone from the district: “I’m going to look at my kids’ [athletic] schedules, and when they have games here it will be great to come back. There’s definitely a lot of great traditions, like the Homecoming events. My heart’s still with Beaver Area because I’m still an alum. So as much as the alumni come back, I will too. I think that’s my role now.”
Looking towards Beaver Area’s future, Dr. Murray hopes the progress made during her time as principal continues.
“I hope [the progress] doesn’t go away, I hope it continues, because I don’t think we’re done. I don’t think with me leaving that this is done, and I don’t think we’re in a perfect place either. I think there’s always room for improvement,” Dr. Murray said. “I do hope that you [the students] continue to use your voices to stand up and speak out and make the changes that need to happen.”
Assistant Principal Mr. Sean Snowden will replace Dr. Murray as high school principal, and the district is looking for a new assistant principal.
Thank you for everything that you’ve done for Beaver Area High School, Dr. Murray, and best of luck in your upcoming career!