{"id":6569,"date":"2012-01-12T10:20:33","date_gmt":"2012-01-12T15:20:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=6569"},"modified":"2012-01-12T10:20:33","modified_gmt":"2012-01-12T15:20:33","slug":"vosburgh-set-to-retire-as-patton-principal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=6569","title":{"rendered":"Vosburgh set to retire as Patton principal"},"content":{"rendered":"

After nearly two decades leading the middle school, ready to move on to new challenges<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Bruce Vosburgh<\/p><\/div>\n

EAST MARLBOROUGH \u2014 In the 40 years since it opened in 1972, Charles Patton Middle School has had just two principals: Patton, who led the school now named after him until 1992, and current principal Bruce Vosburgh.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s going to change in the fall of 2012 with this week\u2019s announcement that Vosburgh, who has been at the school since 1976, has decided to retire. Although still happy and challenged at Patton, Vosburgh began to get a sense that it might be time.<\/p>\n

Superintendent of Schools Dr. John Sanville formally announced Vosburgh\u2019s retirement Monday night, noting that on behalf of the district, \u201cwe are very happy for Mr. Vosburgh\u201d and that there would be a more formal opportunity to recognize his contributions to the school district.<\/p>\n

With the retirement of his brother, a teacher in the West Chester Area School District, after 40 years (\u201che\u2019s busier than ever, now\u201d Vosburgh said), the long-time district administrator decided it would be better to go a bit too early rather than stick around a bit too long. His youngest child, son Colton, a former multi-sport star at Unionville High School, has graduated from Penn State and is now out of the house. Older daughter Erin, followed her father\u2019s footsteps, serving as an assistant lacrosse coach.<\/p>\n

In short, it was time, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve put in a lot of years,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd you don\u2019t want to stay that extra year and find out you should have retired.\u201d<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not like Vosburgh won\u2019t still be busy \u2014 and involved in middle school education. He\u2019s slated to become Pennsylvania State Director of Schools to Watch, an organization that recognizes excellence over a broad set of criteria for middle schools.<\/p>\n

Beyond that, the Pocopson resident said he expects to have a bit more time for outdoor work and allows with a smile that his wife Terry hopes to travel more. \u201cWe\u2019ll see,\u201d he grins, the smile of a man who seems very happy to spend as much time as possible in and around Unionville.<\/p>\n

Although he\u2019s enthusiastic about life once he moves on from Patton, he knows there\u2019s a great deal he\u2019ll miss, from colleagues of many decades, the parents, the students and the various sports he\u2019s coached \u2014 both for the middle school, the high school and as part of the Unionville Recreation Association.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll miss the daily impact of his work, too, he allows.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get letters from kids who turned their lives around, you have to feel good about that,\u201d he said. He notes that he advises teachers \u2014 especially when they have a difficult\u00a0 phone call to make to a parent \u2014 to take a bit of time before and after looking at positive letters or notes, or even call other parents with positive news to kind of keep things in perspective.<\/p>\n

Clearly, too, he\u2019s proud of the staff and building he\u2019ll be passing onto his successor \u2014 to be determined through a formal search process this spring \u2014 numerous times during a conversation the words \u201cthis is a great school\u201d end up coming out when he talks about various aspects of the people and program at the building. Even questions about the building itself, a bit overcrowded and architectually-challenged by some suggestions \u2014 and the district building that has gone the longest without renovations, the last expansions were done in the 1990s \u2014 he turns aside.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe building is in great shape for it\u2019s age,\u201d he said. \u201cI can\u2019t say enough about our maintenance staff and the work they do.\u201d<\/p>\n

He allows that the building can be a bit tight and lacks windows in some parts \u2014 but that he was able to solve his biggest issue not long after taking over in the 1990s: the green walls.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a real 1970\u2019s thing,\u201d he laughs. \u201cEverything was green. We changed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He does have some advice to whomever follows him: come in, learn the building, learn the people and listen, but don\u2019t hesitate to do things their way, put their own mark on Patton.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going to need somebody who is going to be able to collaborate with people,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think you need to be able to come in and get the culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while he\u2019ll be keeping tabs on how things progress at Patton, he\u2019s excited about the coming changes in his life \u2014 and keeping busy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to it,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not sure how it\u2019s going to be, but I\u2019m just going to make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After nearly two decades leading the middle school, ready to move on to new challenges By Mike McGann, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com EAST MARLBOROUGH \u2014 In the 40 years since it opened in 1972, Charles Patton Middle School has had just two principals: Patton, who led the school now named after him until 1992, and current principal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[285,24,791],"class_list":["post-6569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-patton","tag-unionville","tag-vosburgh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}