Bellefonte, PA principal receives national distinction
Walker Township
In less than a week, Marion Walker Elementary Principal Karen Krisch will leave for Washington, D.C., to be honored alongside 36 other principals as one of the nation’s best educators. But on Wednesday, she sat in a former office turned “recharge room” at the school, surrounded by plush Ikea armchairs, soft glow lanterns and spa music wafting from a small speaker.
Krisch was chosen as Pennsylvania’s Nationally Distinguished Principal of the Year by the Pennsylvania’s Principals Association, following an arduous interview process. Krisch is one of 37 educators from across the country who will visit D.C. to receive the award. Despite her years of experience and the glowing recommendations from her colleagues and fellow administrators, Krisch still can’t believe she was chosen.
“I don’t feel like anything special,” she said. “I just feel like I do my job. I try to do my job well, I try to do extras for the district. I tried to be involved in the district, not just my building.”
Receiving the award while at Marion Walker Elementary is a full circle moment for Krisch; her second grade photo from her time at the school sits prominently in her office. Both her children went to Marion Walker and Krisch lives so close she often rides her bike to school in the mornings.
“I love being at Marion Walker and I love ending my career here,” she said. “What I’m planning to do is stay here until I retire and so I love, love being here.”
Krisch has been an educator for 29 years, and most of those years have been spent in the Bellefonte Area School District. Throughout her long career in the district, Krisch has been at the forefront of school safety plans and instituting mindfulness practices for students and staff. Early in her teaching career at a different district, Kirsch’s school experienced a shooting threat that never materialized but caused her and other administrators to rethink safety plans in the event of another emergency. When she started at Bellefonte Middle School in 2002 as vice principal, she quickly transformed the school’s safety and accountability procedures.
“I got invited to be part of the emergency operations team, to kind of work through some of those things and then, you know, out of Columbine and things like that and other school shootings, there came the need to have processes in place for that. And of course, I had that experience with that threat in that other district and so I was really interested in being part of that.”
Krisch’s passion for mindfulness practices for both students and staff has not only become a key part of daily life at Marion-Walker but also across the district. She pushed for several initiatives aimed at teaching students social-emotional learning, including calm corners where students can take breaks and a daily calming exercise over the intercom.
“I’m also known for the mindfulness sort of movement in our district,” Krisch said. “It’s just a passion that I just want to share and I don’t know how not to share.”
Students are not the only ones who’ve benefited from Krisch’s mindfulness practices. She transformed the former vice principle’s room into a “recharge room” for teachers and staff to relax and take breaks when needed.
Superintendent Tammie Burnaford, who nominated Krisch, said she is a remarkable leader within the district and incredibly deserving of the award.
“The Bellefonte Area School District is proud that Karen Krisch was chosen as the PA National Elementary Distinguished Principal, an award and recognition that is very well-deserved for Mrs. Krisch,” Burnaford wrote in an email to the Centre Daily Times.
Krisch is the second Bellefonte Area principal to become a nationally distinguished principal, alongside assistant superintendent Kris Vancas, who was chosen in 2018.
Keely Doll is an education reporter and service journalist for the Centre Daily Times. She has previously worked for the Columbia Missourian and The Independent UK.
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