Joseph "Jo" Hays

Joseph “Jo” Hays was the longtime superintendent of the State College Area School District, a state senator, and the first mayor of State College under its home-rule charter.

Hays was born December 27, 1898, in Newberry Township in York County, He graduated from Cumberland Valey Normal School (now Shippensburg University) in 1918.

He taught at schools for three years before attending Penn State, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in education in 1923. That year he became a teacher at State College High School and the next year he was named principal. He later received a master’s degree in education from Harvard University.

In 1931, he married Helen McKain, who died in 1974. The couple had a son. In 1975, he married Sara Light Lonberger.

Hays later became supervising principal, a position equivalent to a school superintendent, and which he held until 1956.  At the time he became superintendent, the school system had 887 students in two schools. Under his leadership, the State College Area School District grew to include the borough of State College and the five surrounding townships with 3,900 students in ten schools.

While still superintendent, Hays was elected to the Pennsylvania Senate in 1954, representing the 34^th District, which includes Centre and Clearfield counties. He served two terms and was chairman of the Senate Education Committee for two years. From 1964 to 1966, he directed the Bureau of School Audits for the State Auditor General’s Office.

Hays also served on a State College committee that recommended changing the borough’s form of government to a home-rule charter, transferring many of the duties of the mayor to a borough manager. He went on to be elected the first mayor of State College under home-rule, serving from 1974-1978.

For many years he wrote a weekly column on education and government for the Centre Daily Times. He also hosted a radio show on WMAJ addressing many of the same topics.

In 1984 a vista in Rothrock State Forest was named for Hays. As a state senator he had helped establish the state forest that spreads over Centre, Huntingdon, and Mifflin counties. He died on September 11, 1987, at age 88.