Mike Vukovcan The Hopewell School District is now looking for a new superintendent following the news that Dr. Jeff Beltz is moving on.
At their most recent school board meeting, the Freedom School District approved the hiring of Beltz as the school district’s new Superintendent and Business Manager. Beltz was hired by at Hopewell in November of 2022 to replace Dr Michelle Miller, who left for South Fayette.
Beltz is receiving a 5-year deal with an annual salary of $210,000. This hiring takes effect on December 1, 2025, and runs through November 30, 2030. This will give the Hopewell School Board time to interview and hire a new superintendent.
With the planning of construction of new school buildings, this is obviously a crucial time for the Hopewell District.
This is a homecoming for Beltz, who graduated from Freedom in 1991, and his family has strong ties to that area.
Beltz was one of the best athletes to ever graduate from Freedom High School as he was a standout in football, basketball and baseball. Beltz went on to Geneva College from 1991 to 1995, where he became the first and only two sport All-American at Geneva. Beltz set every game, season, and career receiving record after graduating from Geneva. In baseball, he was a 4-starter and two-time NAIA All-American, setting season records with career steals, triples and on-base average.
Before getting into school administration, Beltz was a coach on the Robert Morris football staff with legendary head coach Joe Walton along with serving as head football coach at Beaver.
Beltz was Freedom’s athletic director in 1999 but is now returning home to lead their school district.
In such a crucial time, the question now is where does Hopewell turn to replace Beltz?
