SHADYSIDE — Superintendent John Haswell will lead Shadyside Local School District through the next years’ projects and challenges, after the school board of education voted to approve Haswell’s retirement and rehiring during the Thursday board meeting. They approved a five-year contract for him.

“Thank you for having faith,” Haswell said.

This will allow Haswell to draw on his retirement.

“I paid into the retirement system for 34 years now,” he said.

His salary is $119,241. Haswell, 58, has served as a high school principal for the district in 2010. He was 7-12th grade principal and superintendent from 2013-2016.

“So I’ve been superintendent a total of 10 years,” he said. “Out of my 34 years of education, 29 of them have been at Shadyside, the other five have been at Bellaire as an assistant high school principal.”

Along with normal academics, the district is preparing to tackle a plan to construct a new K-12 facility. They have a locked in state share of 75 percent and the local share could come from PTT Global Chemical investments if an ethane cracker plant comes to the area, or from a new levy. Plans call for the demolition of Leona Middle School to make room and show commitment, and there are questions of where the middle school classes would best be held.

Haswell said the board had confidence he was the correct choice to lead them to it.

“They wanted me to commit to five more years, to see this project through,” Haswell said. “There’s great community interest in it. I’m completely invested in it, so I know everything going on.”

Haswell said he was committed to the new facilities as the best course of action for the district’s future.

“I absolutely love this district, I love this town, I want to do nothing more than to see a brand-new school district, so they wanted to lock me up for five years to see this through,” he said.

“If my health allows me to stay, I’ll stay,” he said. “Right now I’m healthy. I have had a few health scares. … with my heart.”

Haswell recalled speaking to residents about the possibilities of a new school building during Wednesday’s public meeting.

“I want to see this through,” he said. “If I can see that through and we do a ribbon cutting and we move in, I will be happy just to float out into the sunset. … If we can see this through, I’d be willing to hand the keys to someone else and say ‘Take over.'”

He said his leadership style is to coordinate with his building administrators and trust their abilities.

“Student achievement is the major challenge and the major focus,” he said.

Haswell said he has deep roots in the community.

“I grew up here. I was born here. I graduated from here. This school – when I was in the school – meant everything to me. Shadyside means everything to me and it always has,” he said. “This is my home and this is where I wanted to raise my family and this is where I wanted to be.”

His three children are also Shadyside graduates.

“And I have six grandchildren on their way up,” he said.

Board member Joel Traylor said consistency of leadership was welcome going forward.

“We’re proud of what John’s accomplished,” he said. “We want some continuity going forward because of what we’re doing. … He’s really got a level of mastery with regard to the school build and what’s required. He’s a value at this point because of his level of experience. Hiring somebody else in, it would be very difficult to find that level of experience, as well as heart for the community, because he just literally bleeds tiger.”

Traylor said future projects will be sizable, and Haswell has also proved himself very capable of working within the district’s finances and bettering them.

“It’s an investment in our community. It’s an investment in our kids. I think John’s a rare find,” he said. “It doesn’t take much for you to drive around Shadyside and see his fingerprint. … We are rewarding him for what he has accomplished, for what he has done, and that’s good because we know what we’ve got with John Haswell.”