Thomas Jefferson principal graduates – to retirement

This year's commencement at Thomas Jefferson High School will have the same significance for both the seniors and their principal.

As students leave for college or to start their careers, Tim Haselhoff, 59, of White Oak, will begin retirement, ending 34 years in education.

“You could say I was pushed out by a 2-year-old,” he said.

That would be Soffia, his first granddaughter – someone he's eager to spend more time with.

“Mr. Haselhoff was an outstanding leader that led the high school in a progressive manner,” Superintendentent Michael Panza said. “He was a visible and innovative leader that will be deeply missed.”

For Haselhoff, music came first. As a student, he earned positions in district, county and state band competitions, and he sustained the interest through Duquesne University for his bachelor's and master's degree. Being a band director was too much fun, he said.

As a director for 13 years at Bethlehem-Center, Washington County, and during the 15 years at Blairsville-Saltsburg, Indiana County, he added more administrative duties to his schedule, including earning a principal's certification.

Haselhoff also uses his fascination with magic in the classroom.

As principal, he has visited high school classes to relate magic to topics in psychology and writing. The exercise was simple — after performing a trick, he asked the creative writing students to write about what they had seen. As expected, none of the 16 described the same thing.

Haselhoff would like to be remembered as someone who is “dedicated, driven and committed to excellence in education.”

He is proud of his 15-day cycle system that fosters every student's success. When failure is evident, a non-threatening letter is sent to the student with suggestions about how to improve. After six weeks, teachers are asked to step in to ameliorate the student's academic performance.

“The goal is to reduce failure,” he said.

Each subsequent 15-day cycle moves students closer to the end of a period and a final grade.

Haselhoff has watched the progress of this system, which also has shown that juniors and seniors are more probable to fail in the last nine weeks of the school year. Seniors decide they don't need the class to graduate, and juniors can retake the class the following year.

Overall, “failures are down, discipline problems down and achievements up,” he said. “We make adjustments as we go instead of waiting to the end.”

Some Thomas Jefferson teachers may describe him as “not mean enough,” he said, and students might say he was “too mean.”

“I tried to use logic and common sense,” he said. “I stuck to the policies, but I always asked myself. ‘If this were my kid, what would I want done?'”

Haselhoff said he hopes to stay in education, perhaps as a consultant or working with university students as they pursue advanced teaching degrees.

“I'll tell them what the reality is,” he said.

Dona S. Dreeland is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-388-5803 or ddreeland@tribweb.com.