Principal

Welcome to Brigadier General Anna Mae Hays Elementary School!

Let me start by introducing myself, my name is Naaman Schlegel, Principal of Brigadier General Anna Mae Hays Elementary School. I have been the principal at Hays Elementary since 2020. I would like to personally welcome you and your family to our beautiful school!

First and foremost, it’s important to share that I take the responsibility of leading Hays Elementary with the utmost importance. I helped lead the naming of Hays and helped make crucial decisions in many of the aspects of Hays Elementary. As a parent myself, starting Hays Elementary and “building from the ground up” has felt similar to raising a child in helping the school find its path in growing into the great school it is today!

Talking about the school, Hays Elementary offers many incredible spaces to help students be successful!

• Community building includes a food pantry, VHP children’s clinic, early education classrooms, and an adult education classroom.
• State-of-the-art gymnasium featuring a regulation-size basketball court and stage.
• Sunlit, beautiful library that encourages a love for reading and overlooks downtown Allentown.
• Multi-structure playground space designed for active play.

As the leader of Hays Elementary I want to share my leading style. I’m unique in the sense that I truly enjoy rolling up my sleeves and getting deep in the work of continuous improvement for all 800 of our students! We work around the standards with a growth mindset to see better results each and every school day! It is my belief that this work can only be completed when teachers, specialists, support staff and instructional leaders, like myself, work continuously to provide students with differentiated and personalized instruction to help the students grow academically.

At Hays, we are the largest elementary school in the Allentown School District. With this said, we are fortunate enough to have two Assistant Principals. Our Assistant Principals are Mrs. Aydin and Mr. Snyder! The three of us are dedicated to making Hays an absolutely incredible space for young learners to thrive as they begin their life-long learning journey!

We welcome you and your family to Brigadier General Anna Mae Hays Elementary!

Mr. Naaman Schlegel
Principal of Hays Elementary