Special Event 4 - 2012

By Tillie Bowers McCarty, LHS59.ORG Reporter

The son of Alan Hale, Class of 1959 and Judy Russell Hale, Class of 1961, has been appointed to a new leadership role of Director of Human Resources with the Lancaster City Schools.

Although Nathan A. Hale graduated in 1984 from Berne Union High School, he has come back to Lancaster City Schools where he spent his first ten years as a student to forge his career in Education. "It was 20 years ago when I was helping my Dad and Brad Roush, the coach of a little league baseball team, that I discovered I could teach youth, and enjoy it", Nathan declared.

As a graduate of The Ohio State University, and Ohio University, Nathan was working in the field of finance as a manager when this vision of his career appeared. It was back to school while also teaching, to provide the necessary educational background required to work with elementary students. Four years in the classroom led to 12 years as Principal of Lancaster's East Elementary School, which has culminated in Nathan being appointed as Director of Human Services for Lancaster City Schools in August, 2012.

In answer to my question of 'What is your goal for this new position?', Nathan responded with, 'I can answer that better in a year since now that I am learning about my job. Give me a year and I will be able to see the full picture and set some goals.' This was a refreshing moment for this reporter who usually gets stock answers that turn out to be less than adequate. Lancaster Schools is fortunate to have Nathan in this important leadership role.

Nathan is married to Molly McCall, a Lancaster native who is a private-duty nurse. They have a son, Isak, a sophomore at The Ohio State University majoring in Athletic Training, and a daughter, Ali, a 7th grader at Thomas Ewing Jr. High School. 'It was playing baseball, and the fun of a traveling league for Isak when he was in high school, and now it is dance performances and recitals with Ali, that we remain so busy as a family,' Nathan shared from behind his warm smile.

When asked what the outstanding feature of Lancaster City Schools is, Nathan quickly replied, 'Lancaster Schools are still 'Community' Schools.' A bit in wonderment I had to ask, and learned that Nathan finds the residents of Lancaster to genuinely LIKE their schools. Gee, I thought about that for a bit and realized Nathan had cut through all the talking points and went right to the heart of the community. The people of Lancaster should be proud of their record of supporting their public school system.

It was now evident to me that Lancaster City Schools have a jewel in their new Director of Human Services, so I had to find out where the values of this man came from. "Who influenced the most during your public school career", I asked, and quickly got the answer, "My Dad. I never will forget, and always use this in life as well as in every interview, of Dad coming home years ago to tell the story of his day. One such story was when his Dad had asked one of his employees (Dad owned the company) if he needed to come do some difficult welding for a hesitant employee. Dad said he would have done that gladly because I never ask an employee to do something that I can't or wouldn't do myself. This attitude and value of my Dad's have guided me through my life and professional career."