Routh retiring as EFHS principal

He spent his entire 26-year education career with the school district.

Routh

Growing up in Dormont, Michael Routh never expected to become a teacher, let alone a high school principal.

After graduating from Keystone Oaks High School, he enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh for criminal justice and planned to become a police officer after seeing many of his family members serving their communities.

After finding there weren’t many police jobs after he graduated, Routh was hired at Whale’s Tale, a homeless shelter for children in Millvale. Then he worked at Southwood Psychiatric Hospital for nearly five years while raising a family in Whitehall.

“I was there working with the kids, and that was tough work,” Routh said. “I really liked the work, but it didn’t pay a lot. It was really stressful, but it prepared me eventually for what I did.”

Routh realized that if he wanted to work with young people and make a living out of it, he needed to pursue an advanced degree to become a teacher. So he got teaching certifications and degrees at California University and Duquesne.

His first interview was with the Elizabeth Forward School District, and he has remained there ever since then because he felt like he didn’t need to jump around to other districts.

“You get to know all the families and you get to know everyone intimately,” Routh said. “That has helped me in my career. I never felt the need to get another job or go to another district. I enjoyed where I was at, I felt good about it because it’s a nice place. I never felt a reason to leave good people, good families.”

After finishing his 26th year in the district, Routh decided in June that he was taking early retirement.

“It’s not a full 30 years, but the state lets you go if you are 55 years of age with at least 25 years of experience. That’s what I did. I’m 56, and I decided it’s time. It’s just time. You just sort of reflect on your life and your career path and you just sort of decide: this is time.”

Superintendent Keith Konyk announced Routh’s retirement at last week’s school board meeting. He served many different roles in the district in addition to his current job, including elementary principal, special education teacher, middle school principal.

Routh started as a high school special education teacher for seven years, then became a high school assistant principal for a year, Central Elementary principal for three years and the middle school principal for four years before spending the past 11 years at the high school.

“I liked all three levels,” Routh said. “I don’t know if I have a preference. I enjoyed my time at each building. I love what I do and I love the students. Above all, the highlight of my job was the kids, nothing else really matters, and then you start to think about other things you can do and other life experiences you want to have.

“I enjoyed all the levels. They all had their different challenges and the things that were really interesting about it and fun and the things that were the drag about the job.”

Konyk added that Routh contributed many things to the district and was a leader in technology and education.

At Central Elementary, Routh partnered with the PTO to start a fundraiser and install a playground at the school. The middle school got recognized in the National Forum of School’s to Watch while Routh was principal, and he integrated positive behavioral interventions and supported school wide expectations at the high school. He also got iPads for the district at a time where schools didn’t have them.

Routh said the pinnacle of his experience as a high school principal is getting a child their diploma because it is one of an individual’s biggest milestones.

Routh said a couple of things stood out to him over his time at Elizabeth Forward, including the pandemic, which was “extremely difficult,” but also “satisfying” to help kids get to a point where they can learn.

“The COVID pandemic was a major disruption to students’ learning and for the whole community and the nation,” Routh said. “To be able to help them help lead the community in some way, even if it was a small part, in being there to try to help kids come back to school and learn at the conditions that were required to learn.”

Another memorable moment is an emergency in February 2023 when the high school’s auditorium caught on fire.

“The fire burned the auditorium down, but it touched every classroom and basically the smoke went down the hall,” Routh said. “Smoke damage got to every corner of that building. Even though you think it’s just the auditorium, when you come up to the campus, the auditorium is missing, but it touches every classroom.”

Even though Routh said the school was “dusty” and “disgusting” after the Sunday fire, they got everyone back to work online by Tuesday. Students were able to return to the building in April.

One of the toughest things for Routh was making sure his 60 staff members and 750 students were safe.

“In school, you didn’t learn this stuff,” Routh said. “You don’t learn that aspect of it or the human part of it. You can be a really good teacher, you can know everything about being a principal, but there’s that human element where you have to care for people. I think I’ve become, as a leader, a lot more empathetic.

“So having gone through that through COVID and a few short years later repeating that same thing with the fire, it was pretty devastating. You just started feeling good about being back in school and you’re rebuilding the structure of the school and all of a sudden, you are out and kids are being told to stay home and be remote. We’re lucky we were able to do that.”

Routh complimented students and families for being resilient during that time and said the school is in a “much better place.”

Routh reflected on his decision to retire, admitting that he’s nervous about it, but plans on doing something productive.

“I realized I just have to keep moving,” he said. “I just feel like I am going to be doing some things. There is so much to see just in the country I have never been to. I know it’s cliche to retire and travel, but there’s so much to see and so many places you can go to that are beautiful. I can do whatever, and it really opens things up at this point in my life.”

Routh hopes to spend time with his wife and two children, who are grown and have lives of their own. He also wants to keep working, possibly with students again, and to hike, read and paint.

“We are just so proud that Mr. Routh was a part of that,” Konyk said at last week’s meeting. “I want to wish another member of our district a grand retirement. So he will be moving on and moving on to that next chapter. He’s incredibly excited. He’s been a member of the district for an incredibly long time. We’re excited because we are also really excited for his retirement as well.”

Routh said he has reached many different students throughout his career in education, and he stuck with it for so long because he felt he could help in a big way.

“Being able to care for kids, have empathy and do whatever little control I have to help them to succeed,” he said. “It’s not about all the flashy stuff and look at this thing we’re doing. It’s about helping the children. That’s probably been the most satisfying thing and the thing I’m most proud of.”

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