BASH Assistant Principal Mrs. Shirley Lutz will retire in November after working at Boyertown Area School District for two decades.

She has been at the high school for twelve years. Currently, Mrs. Lutz serves as Grade Level 10 principal. She also oversees the In-School and Out of School Suspension and Detention programs, and is in charge of the school’s Professional Education Council, Student Assistance Program, and Intensive Instructional Support. In addition, she oversees the Diversity/No Place for Hate committee and organizes anti-bullying assemblies.

Mrs. Lutz worked with No Place for Hate since 2003, and says her greatest achievement at BASH was her involvement in implementing the No Place for Hate motto: “As you grow older you may regret some things you have done in your past. You will NEVER regret showing kindness and respect to others.”

Along with establishing the No Place for Hate motto, Mrs. Lutz also helped train peer leaders through the Anti-Defamation League, most of who just graduated. Thirty new sophomore peer leaders are being trained this fall, and it will be their responsibility to work towards the never- ending quest to completely rid Boyertown of name-calling, put-downs, and insensitive remarks  in school hallways.

In addition the No Place for Hate, Mrs. Lutz said her favorite thing about working in Boyertown was that it was never a boring job.

“There was always something new for me to do,” she said. “I took great pride in helping students and their families. I’m really grateful for the opportunity to work here.”

A big part of Mrs. Lutz’s job was discipline. Her philosophy on that, she said, it is her job to help students make better choices. “I have learned that students almost 100 percent of the time want to do the right thing,” she said. “Issues in their lives have impacted their ability to make good choices.”

Before coming to BASH, Mrs. Lutz worked at Boyertown Junior High East for eight years, and  before that spent five years in the Conrad Weiser School District as assistant high school principal. She also was a teacher and principal at various Alternative Schools in New Jersey.

Outside of school, she also has worked as an aerobics instructor and fitness instructor.

Mrs. Lutz chose to retire now, she said, because she yearns to use her “experience working with people, in a new way, by working with Senior Citizens. I am an example of being a lifelong learner.”

In her retirement, Mrs. Lutz will continue as an exercise instructor, but with an older crowd. She will work with the Healthy Steps for Older Adults program, where she will be a personal trainer, encouraging healthy lifestyles.

Mrs. Lutz also plans to travel, including to Denver, Colorado, to visit her daughter and to Marco Islands, in February of 2014, where she will sightsee and golf.

The interview process for a new vice principal is ongoing.