NORTH VERSAILLES — It wasn’t the most traditional path into an educational leadership position for Dr. Alexander Novickoff, East Allegheny’s new assistant superintendent.
The New Kensington native began his career serving in the Navy. At a time when his ship was undergoing maintenance, Dr. Novickoff volunteered as a basketball coach for the Boys and Girls Club at the Little Creek Naval Base, which is now a joint base.
“I thought, ‘Wow, I really like this,’” Dr. Novickoff said of working with students.
After enjoying the experience, he was inspired to go into a career in education. After his naval career concluded, Dr. Novickoff enrolled at Slippery Rock University and earned his undergraduate degree and became certified in elementary and special education.
He began his educational career back home in the New Kensington-Arnold School District and then earned his master’s degree from Slippery Rock and his special education supervision certification.
Dr. Novickoff then left New Kensington-Arnold to join the Pittsburgh Public Schools as an administrator and, while there, earned his principal certification and began working as a principal.
He then departed for Westmoreland County to join the Southmoreland School District as its Director of Special Education and as a principal. He then spent the last three years as the assistant director at the Central Westmoreland Career and Technical Center, the largest CTC in Western Pennsylvania.
And on Monday, Aug. 5, he successfully defender his doctoral dissertation at Duquesne University, where he also earned his superintendent letter of eligibility.
For Dr. Novickoff, the leadership side of an administrative position was enticing, thanks in large part to his time in the Navy.
“I had experienced great leadership in the Navy. I remember a commanding officer and how he informed what I viewed as good leadership, and I thought that I could pursue that,” Dr. Novickoff said.
He added, “I also thought I should be a part of solutions, so that’s what I continue to want to do. … I also like the different challenges a lot. Your day is never the same every day.”
In East Allegheny, Dr. Novickoff saw an opportunity to rejoin a community.
“It was cool on a Friday (to see) five different football jerseys walking into class together (at CWCTC), because they’re from different schools. It was neat, but it’s not ‘your school’ and I missed that a lot,” he said.
Familiarity with East Allegheny Superintendent Joe DiLucente helped, too. The two worked together when DiLucente was at the Intermediate Unit in Westmoreland County and Dr. Novickoff was at Southmoreland.
Now that he’s arrived to the East Allegheny School District, Dr. Novickoff has a few objectives in mind, in addition to learning more about EA.
“(I want to) build some really reliable systems that support our families, our students, and our teachers to give them confidence in what we’re doing here,” he said. “I think principals are best when they’re support and have clear vision and goals, and that trickles to teachers and students. I’ve been a systems-oriented change agent everywhere I’ve been. … So whether it’s developing programs that exist, improving them, or starting something new … that, to me, is my priority.”
Dr. Novickoff added that he and DiLucente would like to bring a fresh perspective to the district, and perhaps even find new ways to make an education at East Allegheny both fun and valuable.
“I think it’s going to be selling EA and making sure we’re providing a (good) product and thinking about school in a different way,” he said. “(DiLucente) and I kind of came of age (professionally) during the pandemic, and we kind of saw that maybe we could do things differently. There’s no a ‘Bureau of Education Police Force’ coming to arrest us if we break from the norm and try something that benefits kids. … So hopefully we can inject that youth and enthusiasm and still be stewards of the taxpayers and do our jobs well.”
Dr. Novickoff has a wife and four children, ages 11, seven, five, and soon-to-be three. His wife is a teacher in the Greensburg Salem School District, where she’s served as a second grade teacher for nearly two decades.
“I couldn’t be happier to be here,” Dr. Novickoff concluded. “I can’t think of a better place to land and start this journey. I don’t know that if you asked me a year ago if EA was even on my radar, but I couldn’t be happier to be here and hopefully be here for quite a while.”