Pleasant Valley Superintendent Carole Geary is about to retire from the district, but it is looking more like a push into a new career then the end of one.

Geary grew up in Bradford County and attended Slippery Rock University where she studied secondary mathematics. Upon graduating she took a job at Pleasant Valley High School where she taught math for 12 years before obtaining her masters in secondary education and her administrative certification.Geary was promoted to administrative assistant, a position that now has the title dean of students and soon after she became an assistant principal, a position she held for one year.Geary left Pleasant Valley to become principal of Stroudsburg High School. She stayed there for two years, but her heart was still at Pleasant Valley.When a principal's position opened up at Chestnuthill School, Geary returned to the district as principal and district math supervisor.Geary later served for 10 years as an assistant superintendent. In 2013, she replaced Doug Arnold as superintendent.In all, Geary has spent 30 years with the Pleasant Valley School District, which is why she considers Pleasant Valley home."When people ask me what is so great about Pleasant Valley, I always say it's the great staff, the wonderful kids and the good families that make the district what it is," Geary said."I am moving on, but I am staying in the area. This is my home."Geary has always kept herself busy. Even while overseeing a school district with a greater than $100 million budget, she continued to work as an adjunct professor at East Stroudsburg University. She is on the boards of Pocono Area Transitional Housing and the Quiet Valley Living Historical Farm, where she volunteers in her spare time.But while Geary decided to retire from her position with the district, she was not ready to stop working and will begin a new chapter in her career on Aug. 1 when she joins Step By Step Learning as an executive vice president.Step By Step is a professional development company that works with teachers and districts to develop training for teachers and administrators.Geary will be working with districts in the Lehigh Valley and in Western Pennsylvania.This is Geary's first foray into the private sector side of education, and she is excited about the prospect."I will be working directly with clients and as a project manager where I can monitor the quality of the training," Geary said. "I am very excited and nervous at the same time."Geary couldn't imagine herself in any other field. Her entire professional life has been dedicated to serving the needs of her students."My fondest memories are from my days in the classroom," Geary says. "I have always missed it. I loved the feeling you get when you know you are changing the lives of children."Geary is proud of the accomplishments of the district including the huge improvements in the literacy benchmarks in the past few year, which went from 55 percent to 95-97 percent.Last week Geary attended her final school board meeting, sitting next to incoming Superintendent Dave Piperato.Piperato comes from his post as principal of Emmaus High School and has worked the last two weeks side-by-side with Geary."We are all grateful to you for your hard work, and we appreciate everything you have done here," school board Director Susan Kresge said to Geary at the meeting.Kresge presented Geary with a PV Bears blanket as a going-away present.On Aug. 1, when Geary gets in her car to go to work she won't be heading to Pleasant Valley for the first time in 30 years."It is going to be strange getting up every morning and not going there," Geary said."But there are new adventures awaiting."