Susan Swartz is leaving on her own terms.
That’s what the superintendent of the Scotia-Glenville Central School District stressed when she announced her “timely” retirement to the district’s Board of Education Monday night.
“I'm ready to spread my wings and do some other things,” Swartz said. “I want to be really clear, though, that no one is forcing me out. No one has asked me to leave. We have had very reasonable discussions about this, and I think it is safe to say that I am committed to working with you, and you are committed to working with me, and that's what we're going to do this year.”
Swartz’s tenure as superintendent will end on June 30, 2027.
The announcement comes after a rocky period for the district. The school board made cuts in 2025 after voters rejected a proposed budget that included a 5.09% tax levy increase. Following the difficult budget cycle, the board voted in February to close one of the district’s four elementary schools at the end of the 2025-2026 school year due to budget gaps and declining enrollment. It was a decision that the district had “danced around” for “a long time,” according to Swartz.
“There really weren’t any options. We could not continue to run classes with 12 or 14 kids in them,” Swartz said in an interview after her retirement announcement. “Going into it, probably the first meeting we had in August of 2025 with the board, I said to them, ‘This is going to be hard. It’s going to be very painful, and there are going to be people who are angry and mad.’ What I didn’t expect was the level of vitriol.”
Swartz said she received “some personal threats” and someone damaged property at her home twice, which she declined to describe in detail.
As it seeks Swartz's replacement in the coming year, the district will also have to manage the transition from four elementary schools to three, and hire several administrative employees to run facilities, transportation, and the district’s math and science programs. Swartz said her “overarching goal” for her last year on the job is to make those transitions “as seamless as possible.”
“We have work in front of us,” Swartz said. “I want us to do that work. I want us to do it well and do the right things by our kids and our community. I live here too. I pay taxes here too. But I am going to expect that we’re all going to be good to each other.”
Swartz has served as Scotia-Glenville's superintendent since 2005. She told WAMC she's proud of her leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic — having overseen budgets with moderate tax increases and no program cuts — and making improvements to athletic and auditorium facilities.
Swartz started her career as a special education teacher and then “fell into administration” later on. She said she misses working with children on a more personal level, but she said she doesn’t regret her decision to become an administrator.
“I’ve had a great run here,” Swartz said. “I have had the opportunity to lead some incredibly strong teams [and] work with some great boards [of education]. So I wouldn’t say I regret it, but perhaps I would have come to it a little later.”
