Worley, who spent several years in the Ephrata school district prior to joining Cocalico, retired at the conclusion of the 2005/06 school year. Assistant Superintendent Dr. Bruce Sensenig assumed the post July 1.

It would be more than fair to say that Worley has covered many bases during his 40 years in education.

After graduating from Millersville University in 1966 with a teaching degree in biology/general science, Worley began his career as a ninth grade science teacher at Ephrata High School that same year. Four years later, he moved to the middle school, teaching seventh grade biology for the next 10 years. While at the EMS, Worley also served as science department chairman and also coached basketball and baseball.

It was the coaching, said Worley, which piqued his interest in the administrative aspect of education.

“We got into budgeting and other types of things as far as planning and organization&tstr;I found that I really enjoyed it,” he said earlier this summer as his tenure was coming to a close. “It was then that I began to think that I may be interested in becoming an administrator, especially in the middle school&tstr;I liked the middle school kids, it was kind of a neat experience with them.”

In 1980, after taking courses at Penn State, Worley assumed the position of assistant principal at Cocalico Middle School. A year later, while working on his doctorate, he was tapped to assume the position of assistant superintendent of curriculum.

Five years later, Worley took over as superintendent.
Undisputedly, an impressive career&tstr;yet missing the one thing he wanted to do most.

“I never had the chance to be a middle school principal. That was my goal at that point. That’s something I always thought I would enjoy. But things worked out a different way and I never had that chance.”

In his 20 years spent in the Cocalico School District, Worley says the biggest change he has seen is the district’s population.

“When I first became superintendent here we had about 2,100 students. Over the past 20 years, we have grown about 100-150 students per year and we’re now at 3,600. A lot of the influx is coming from the turnpike and the new developments, especially in East Cocalico. A lot of people from New Jersey, Philadelphia, as well as Lancaster and Reading began to come into the community and we began to see our numbers increasing.”

To accommodate the rise in student population, Worley says construction quickly became a priority.

“We began taking each of our schools and expanding them. Adamstown was one of our first projects&tstr;it was a small school with one class of each grade and we tripled the size of that school because that’s where our growth was. We also went around to the other elementaries and upgraded and expanded the classroom capabilities and then moved on to our middle school and high school so that we&tstr;we initially had classes of 150-160 in terms of graduating and now we’re graduating classes of 300. So we’ve literally doubled our graduating class.”

Worley said the construction phase began around 1990 and has been continuous for the past 15 years.
With the increase in classes came the hiring of additional staff.

“We’ve moved from about 150 staff members to now about 250. And that, I think, has been a good thing. Because now as we look at programs and try to stay current with a lot of things we were doing, I think we hired a lot of good people. And that, to me, is what makes a difference in your schools.”

Now, Worley said, the population surge seems to be leveling off.

“We wrapped up construction at the high school last year, so I really feel that our facilities are pretty much set for some years to come. There are still some additional housing units expected, however, so it’s something that will need to be looked at continuously over the next 3-5 years.”
While the district itself has undergone many changes in the last several years, Worley said he has seen the education field in general change as well.

“Statewide, there’s been more emphasis on accountability,” he said. “On students’ standards in math, science and language arts. With the PSSA scores there have been increased requirements of classroom teachers&tstr;with that, one big impact has been the use of technology. I remember initially having Radio Shack computers and now we’re going to iBooks. So technology has really facilitated a lot of things that we’re doing.

“The other big focus has been with data. Now, when we do assessments and testing of students we can provide teachers with data on students that help drive their instruction.”
Worley said he feels confident in the new administration and the direction of the district.

“I feel good about it. I’m passing this on to Bruce who can look at the new challenges there in the future&tstr;we’ve got it to here, now we’re ready to move it forward. And that was my job&tstr;to take it from 20 years ago, and keep our schools moving forward, addressing issues and growth, etc. We need to continue working with our board and our community and staff in continuing to make that happen. And I feel confident that this new administration can do the job.”
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