Freedom Township Native to Take Reign at C-K

When Claysburg-Kimmel Superintendent Darren McLaurin announced in December that he was retiring, his replacement was found approximately 150 miles away, although he grew up in the district's backyard.

Mark Loucks, an East Freedom native, returns to Claysburg, where he previously served as elementary school principal. Loucks, a graduate of Central High School in Martinsburg, began his career in education as a history teacher at Central High School before being named Dean of Students and Assistant Principal at Central.

After his stint at Central, Loucks took over as principal at Juniata Valley Junior and Senior High. In 2005, he was named principal at Claysburg-Kimmel Elementary School, a position he held until 2011 when he left to take over as superintendent at Forbes Road School District.

Loucks currently serves as superintendent at Franklin Area School District in Venango County.

For Loucks, taking over at Claysburg-Kimmel is a homecoming he is looking forward to.

"The opportunity to come home and work at Claysburg is a dream come true," he said.

Loucks was in his first month as superintendent at Franklin when the COVID-19 pandemic put an abrupt halt to in-class learning. Like all superintendents, Loucks scrambled to put together an educational blueprint to keep kids from falling behind while out of class.

"We had to figure out on the fly how to invent a new way to do what all of us had done prior to the pandemic," he said.

Loucks said administrators and staff at most schools had to set the precedent for remote learning because it was not taught during teacher training.

"The student teaching experience, undergrad work, nobody talked about online learning," he said. "Overnight you had to come up with a different version of your school."

Loucks said the challenge of the pandemic at the beginning was the uncertainty of how long it would last and no firm time frame for students to return to class. He gives credit to the students for embracing the challenge of online learning and teachers for creating ways to engage with their students.

"At that time, there was no finish line," he said. "Nobody was sure when we would be returning. Everybody had that hope that we would return and get back to normal."

Switching to remote learning presented some logistical challenges for Loucks, most notably, how to provide remote learning to students who didn't have access to broadband service.

"Probably 20 percent of our kids didn't have broadband access," he said. "Our teachers worked hard to prepare work for them that could be dropped off. The kids are the priority."

Loucks said the pandemic ushered in a new era of education with schools now equipped to offer both the traditional in-class learning and full remote learning.

"Things have changed," he said. "People like having the option of in-class and remote learning and districts are starting to offer that."

The challenge districts are facing with online learning is the competition from cyber schools that are siphoning students from the public schools. Loucks said doing remote learning through their home district offers advantages that cyber schools can't, such as instruction from district teachers and a diploma from that school.

Loucks said online learning options, like the one at Claysburg, provides a different approach to learning that will in time become a regular aspect of what schools do. Loucks said he is looking forward to starting his post in May and working alongside McLaurin for two months during the transition period.

"Mr. McLaurin has done a fantastic job," Loucks said. "For transitioning, I think challenge number one is learning what his goals and objectives are for the district and where they are in terms of progress towards them."

Loucks said he is excited to become part of the Claysburg-Kimmel community and can't wait to get started.

"It goes without saying that any time you can return to a place where you had a wonderful experience the first time you were there is exciting," he said. "It thrills me to be part of it again and my family is happy to have me closer to home."