Welcome to Welcome to Fort Wayne Community Schools

Record Number: 10372

Displayed from: Oct 22, 2013 , until: Dec 22, 2013

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.

With nearly 30,000 students, Fort Wayne Community Schools is one of the largest school districts in Indiana. FWCS proudly allows families to choose any of its 50 schools through its successful school-choice program creating diversity in each school, including some with more than 75 languages spoken. FWCS offers seven magnet schools focusing on areas such as science and math, communication, fine arts or Montessori at the elementary and middle school level. In high school, students can choose from the prestigious International Baccalaureate program, Project Lead the Way or New Tech Academy as well as other rigorous academic and specialty training programs.