It was announced today (Tuesday, June 20, 2017) that some P-H-M administrators have been appointed to new leadership roles within the District for the upcoming 2017-2018 school year. The following administrative changes will be effective July 1:
- Walt Disney Elementary School Principal Lavon Dean-Null has been named the new principal of Schmucker Middle School
- Current Schmucker Assistant Principal Kevin McMillen will become principal of Madison Elementary School.
- Current Madison Principal Ryan Towner will take over as Walt Disney's principal since Mrs. Dean-Null is moving to Schmucker.
- Director of Professional Development and Student Learning Heather Short will become Assistant Superintendent for Instruction.
- On May 31st, it was announced Jayson Snyder was moving from Meadow’s Edge to become principal of Schmucker. However, he will now take over as the Director of Professional Development and Student Learning.
In the previous round of appointments, P-H-M Administration announced that Sean Galiher, Schmucker principal since 2013, would take over as Principal of Penn High School on July 1, filling the position left vacant by outgoing Principal Steve Hope. Mr. Galiher has experience at the high school level. Before being Schmucker, Mr. Galiher served as Associate Principal, Dean of Students, taught Algebra and was an assistant varsity baseball coach at Penn.
Schmucker’s new principal, Lavon Dean-Null, was principal of Walt Disney last school year and before that served as assistant principal of Grissom Middle School. She taught Language Arts and Social Studies at Discovery Middle School from 2001-2013. Mrs. Dean-Null was P-H-M’s 2012 Teacher of the Year and a Top Three Finalist for Indiana Teacher of the Year. She has helped lead many middle school student trips to Europe and student exchange programs to China, along with helping to develop middle school curriculums to be implemented across the Corporation. She was a member of the 2013 “Forty under 40” Class and is also currently working on her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership at Purdue.
Current Schmucker Assistant Principal Kevin McMillen will now serve as principal of Madison Elementary School. He was named as one of Schmucker’s two assistant principals in 2015. Mr. McMillen has 22 years of service with P-H-M schools. While teaching first year German at Penn High School in 1995, Mr. McMillen also taught at Discovery and Schmucker. He helped create the 7th and 8th grade World Languages District curriculum and has helped organize and lead numerous European P-H-M student experiential learning trips.
It was also announced in May that Schmucker’s other Assistant Principal Kent Mikel had been named principal of Meadow’s Edge Elementary School.
P-H-M Administration will Schmucker’s assistant principal over the summer and notify families when the appointments have been made.
Schmucker was recently named a “Four Star School,” along with eight other P-H-M schools, and has received an “A” rating four consecutive years.
