Community Leaders Experience Life as a Principal

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Record Number: 17375
Displayed from: Oct 16, 2018 , until: Dec 16, 2018

Fort Wayne Community Schools welcomes 54 community members into our schools to serve as guest principals for the annual Principal for a Day event. Guests representing local businesses, elected officials, service organizations and community groups, will visit their assigned schools the morning of Thursday, Oct. 18, unless other arrangements were made.

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 the FWCS Family and Community Engagement Center, 230 E. Douglas Ave., where students in the FWCS Career Academy Culinary Arts program will prepare and serve a delicious meal.

“Principal for a Day is a great opportunity for community members to see for themselves what takes place in our schools every day,” Superintendent Dr. Wendy Robinson said. “It is an exciting time to be in education, and the work going on in our classrooms is much different than when these community leaders were in school. We appreciate those who are willing to take the time to see how hard our teachers and support staff are working to provide students the highest quality education.”

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

Name

Affiliation

Abbett

Anne Duff

Secretary, FWCS Board of School Trustees

Adams

Rev. Joe Ayers

Associate Pastor, Greater Mount Ararat Baptist Church

Bill C. Anthis Center

Curtis Smith

Director of Community Outreach, Parkview Health

Arlington

Vernard Hollins

President/CEO, Always 100 Basketball

Blackhawk

Kyle Winling

 Traffic Engineer, City of Fort Wayne

Bloomingdale

Maria Norman

FWCS Board of School Trustees

Brentwood

Rep. Phil GiaQuinta

State Representative-80

Bunche

Steve White

Technology Supervisor, Fort Wayne Community Schools

CAS-Nebraska

Alice Jordan-Miles*

Director, Behavioral Health & Family Studies Institute

Croninger

David Amen

General Counsel, Fort Wayne Community Schools

Fairfield

Rafi Nolan-Abrahamian

Manager of Research & Evaluation, Fort Wayne Community Schools

Forest Park

Jen McKinney

Children’s Librarian, Allen County Public Library, Tecumseh Branch

Franke Park

Kelli Warner

Construction Engineer, Design Collaborative

Glenwood Park

Cheri Becker

Vice President, Greater Fort Wayne Inc. Investor Services & Signature Program

Haley

Courtney Tritch

Owner, Courtney Tritch Consulting

Harris

Tim Smith

Vice President of Operations and IT, MedPro

Harrison Hill

Brian Souers

Vice President/Community Banking District Manager, Wells Fargo

Holland

Ginny Flora

Gethsemane Lutheran Church

Indian Village

Michael McAlexander

Chief Deputy Allen County Prosecutor

Irwin

Andrew Brooks II

Brooks Construction

Jefferson

Sarah Gnagy

St. Joseph Township Trustee

Kekionga

Alexus Tucker

Special Assistant to Sen. Joe Donnelly

Lakeside

Jessica Shannon

CEO, Center for Life Transitions

Lane

Steve Bercot

Vice President, Bercot-Gibson Construction Company, Inc. and Bercot, Inc.

Lincoln

Rev. Stephen Terry

Senior Pastor, New Life Church of God

Lindley

Bo Gonzalez

Owner, Bravas

Maplewood

Jane DeHaven*

Summit City Chevrolet

Memorial Park

Randy Strebig

President, Strebig Construction, Inc.

Miami

Paula Autry

CEO, Lutheran Hospital

New Tech Academy

Capt. Mitch McKinney

Director of Community Relations, Fort Wayne Police Department

North Side

Greg Mohr

President & CEO, MidWest America Federal Credit Union

Northcrest

Julie Hollingsworth

President, FWCS Board of School Trustees

Northrop

Dr. Wylie Sirk

Educational Leadership Program Director, Purdue University Fort Wayne

Northwood

Sen. Andy Zay

State Senate-17

Portage

Chris Darby

Multimedia Journalist, WANE-TV

Portage

Melissa Harring

Director of Video Production, Fort Wayne TinCaps

Portage

Bryan Stine

Senior VP of Sales Operations, Fort Wayne Mad Ants

Price

Evan Hyndman

Controller/Administrator, Home Nursing Services

Scott

Ron Howard

Community Development Manager, Fort Wayne Mad Ants

Shambaugh

Rev. Bill Campbell

Life Bridge Church

Shawnee

Ken Hilliard

Director of Operations, Shadow for Success

Snider

Dana Berkes

Public Affairs Manager, NIPSCO

Snider

Steve Corona

Vice President, FWCS Board of School Trustees

South Side

Marc Levy

Executive Director, Questa Foundation

South Wayne

Jordan Lebamoff

FWCS Board of School Trustees

St. Joseph Central

Dr. Ronald Elsenbaumer

Chancellor, Purdue Fort Wayne

Study

Patti Hays

CEO, AWS Foundation

Towles

Howard Skip Balkenbusch

CEO, Associated Anesthesiologists of Fort Wayne

Washington

Sean Martin

Commander, Whitley County Jail

Washington Center

Jason Holliday

Lead Pastor, Living Grace Community Church

Wayne

Jorge Ortiz

Regional Director, Office of U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly

Waynedale

Mark Bloom

Attorney, Beckman Lawson, LLP

Weisser Park

Mike Gorman

CEO, 21centuryedtech llc

Whitney Young

Todd Stewart

President, One Resource Group

* Attending on alternative date.


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.