Guests See Life Inside a School as Principal for a Day
Fort Wayne Community Schools welcomes 55 community members into our schools to serve as guest principals for the annual Principal for a Day event – the District's largest group of guest principals ever. Guests representing local businesses, service organizations and community groups, as well as several State Representatives and Senators, will visit their assigned schools the morning of Thursday, Oct. 24.
The guest principals will visit the schools from the beginning of the school day until noon, experiencing what a principal goes through in a day. From welcoming students into a building to dealing with concerned parents to working directly with teachers to improve academic achievement, principals do it all. The guests will see the amount of time principals spend as instructional leaders, a key component to ensuring each student is educated to high standards.
Following the shadowing experience, the principals and their guests are invited to lunch at Anthis Career Center, 1200 S. Barr St., where Culinary Arts students will prepare and serve a delicious meal.
“We look forward to this event every year, and welcome the diverse group of individuals spending time in our buildings meeting our students and staff,” Superintendent Wendy Robinson said. “Education today is vastly differently than it was when our guests were in school, and their memories of their school principal likely don’t reflect the job of today’s principals. Our building leaders are not just managers, they are responsible for the academic achievement of the entire building, which means they need to understand the needs of students and staff and how to provide support at every level. Our classrooms are dynamic centers of learning where teachers are expected to educate each student to high standards. It is an exciting time to be in education, and we are happy to share what we do with our guests.”
The guest principals come from a variety of occupations, leadership positions and organizations in our community. The following is a list of the schools participating and their guest principals:
| School | Guest Principal |
| Abbett | Pastor Mike Drury, Pine Hills Church |
| Adams | Amanda Brennan & Jason Reuille, Three Rivers Credit Union |
| Anthis | Kenny Bergle, Senior Sales Engineer, Sweetwater |
| Arlington | Jimmie Rongos, Owner, Ziano's & Salvatore's* |
| Blackhawk |
Josh Wenning, Executive Director, Region 8 Education Service Center of Northeast Indiana and Indiana ASCD |
| Bloomingdale | Phil Dwire, Vice President, Lake City Bank |
| Brentwood | Jonathon Fillenworth, Manager, Lowe's |
| Bunche | Jessica Henry, Director, Allen County SPCA |
| Croninger | Craig Scully, Design Collaborative |
| Fairfield | Brad Stinson, Real Estate Broker, North Eastern Group Realty |
| Forest Park | Elbert Starks, The News-Sentinel |
| Franke Park | John McGauley, Allen County Recorder |
| Glenwood Park | Glen Harkenrider, Lincoln Financial Group |
| Haley | Dan Beechy, Financial Center Manager, Tower Bank |
| Harris | Michael Barranda, Attorney, Burt, Blee, Dixon, Sutton & Bloom, LLP |
| Harrison Hill | Rep. Phil GiaQuinta, State Representative-80 |
| Holland | Allen County Sheriff Ken Fries |
| Indian Village | Saline Smith, Swiss Re |
| Irwin | Zach Evans, FWCS Capital Projects Coordinator |
| Jefferson | Tai Felger, Community Outreach Coordinator, Parkview |
| Kekionga | Noel Ingram, Hylant Group |
| Lakeside | Jerry Morrow, Century 21 Bradley Realty |
| Lane | Michael Ledo, CEO, AWP Sports Training |
| Lincoln | Reta Todd, North Eastern Group Realty |
| Lindley | Donna Elbrecht, President & CEO, Easter Seals Arc of Northeast Indiana |
| Maplewood | Ashley Steenman, Vice President of Business Development, Fort Wayne Alliance |
| Memorial Park | Lee Prescott, Realtor |
| Miami | Angela Garcia, Attorney, Carson Boxberger LLP |
| Nebraska | Josh Summers, FWCS Capital Projects Coordinator |
| New Tech Academy | Jack Hammer, Executive Director, Three Rivers Festival |
| North Side | Doug Thieme, Outreach Coordinator, Indiana Department of Education |
| Northcrest | Timothy Reinking, Concordia High School |
| Northrop | Rep. Kathy Heuer, State Representative-83 |
| Northwood | Marc Levy, Executive Director, Questa Foundation for Education |
| Portage | Lockwood Marine, Marine Associates |
| Price | Mindy Waldron, Administrator, Fort Wayne-Allen County Department of Health |
| Scott Academy | Dottie Davis, FWCS Director of Security |
| Shambaugh | Tom Nelson, PPG Regional Manager – Primary Care |
| Shawnee | Rep. Martin Carbaugh, State Representative-81 |
| Snider | Rep. Ben Smaltz, State Representative-52 |
| South Side | Sen. David Long, State Senate-16 |
| South Wayne | Kevin Sierks, Acting Chief Financial Officer, Vera Bradley |
| St. Joseph Central | Jay Leonard, Preferred Auto Group |
| Study | Chris Graham, President, New Millennium Building Systems, Vice President, Steel Dynamics |
| Towles | Sherri Miller, Vision Management Consulting LLC |
| Ward | Becky Hill, FWCS Board Member |
| Washington | Pastor Mike Courtney, The Journey Church |
| Washington Center | David Leakey, Kelly Box Corporation |
| Wayne | Dr. Dennis Zent, State Representative-51, & Julie Hollingsworth, FWCS Board Secretary |
| Waynedale | Rick Hoffmann, Water Furnace Renewable Energy |
| Weisser Park | Sameer Patel, Assistant Conductor, Fort Wayne Philharmonic |
| Whitney Young | Mary Sherer, The Sherer Group, RE/MAX Home Connection |
* Attending a different day.