Beltsville Elementary Principal Retires

Educator Spent 28 Years at School

When students at Beltsville Elementary School report to school Aug. 24, it will be the first time in nearly 30 years that Stephen Beegle won't be there to greet them.

Beegle, 57, retired last month after 35 years in education. He has been at Beltsville as a teacher and administrator since 1981 and became principal in 2004.

"I still liked what I was doing," said Beegle, who lives in Crofton with his wife, Mary. "I was still happy, and I didn't want to leave on a bad note."

Beegle spent his first four years at the school as a general resource teacher, not teaching but dealing with unruly students and supervising lunch time, among other duties.

"Whatever the principal wanted me to do, I did," Beegle said. "I was probably your first 'gofer.' "

He spent the next four years teaching fourth and sixth grades, and he served an additional 10 years as the school's magnet program coordinator. He became assistant principal in the late 1990s.

In 2004, he replaced retiring Principal William Veater, who had led the high-achieving school since its inception in 1981.

"I wanted to continue what he had started," Beegle said. "If it's not broken, you don't need to fix it."

The success continued under Beegle, as shown by the school's scores last year in the Maryland School Assessment exams, a state-developed set of tests to satisfy requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

On the math portion, 87 percent of Beltsville's students scored proficient or better, compared with 64 percent throughout Prince George's County.

In reading, 89 percent scored proficient or better, compared with 71 percent countywide.

"He was a good principal. He knew how to handle things," said Matthew Masangcay, 10, a rising sixth-grader. "He's the best principal that the school has ever had."