Kent Mikel Named New Meadow’s Edge Principal

After last week’s (Tuesday, May 23) announcement that Penn Principal Steve Hope is leaving to become Goshen Community School’s new Assistant Superintendent Penn-Harris-Madison’s Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker announced this week the following administrative changes will be effective July 1, 2017 for the upcoming 2017-18 school year: 
 

• Schmucker Principal Sean Galiher will Penn’s new principal
• Meadow’s Edge Principal Jayson Snyder will become Schmucker’s new principal
• Schmucker Assistant Principal Kent Mikel will become Meadow’s Edge new principal

Kent Mikel previously served as interim principal of Northpoint in 2015 and has been assistant principal at Schmucker since 2012. Before that he was assistant to the principal at Schmucker and taught science at Discovery for 15 years. Mr. Mikel, like Mr. Snyder, is currently working on his Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from Purdue University. For six years, Mr. Mikel served as a co-facilitator of Notre Dame’s University Guided Inquiry Math and Science Program, with a focus on 4th grade elementary, middle and high school teacher professional development. This experience will serve him well in his new role at Meadow’s Edge.

As this year’s IASP District 2 Elementary Principal of the year, Jayson Snyder 

will continue the great work Mr. Sean Galiher has begun at Schmucker. Before becoming principal at Meadow’s Edge, Mr. Snyder was assistant principal at Schmucker from 2010-2012. Meadow’s Edge was just named a “Four Star School”–a first in the school’s history and a first for a P-H-M Title 1 school. During his five years at Meadow’s Edge, the school has also earned an "A" rating for five consecutive years, named one of the state's "Top 3" Title I schools for student achievement, identified as a "Reward School" by the Indiana Department of Education, and nominated for a National Title I Distinguished School Award. Mr. Snyder is a P-H-M student alum; he attended elementary Mary Frank and middle school at Schmucker, going on to play baseball at Penn for Coach Dikos and graduated in 1997. Mr. Snyder is also completing his Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from Purdue.

“The P-H-M Board of School Trustees and I are confident that Kent and Jayson will continue to support, promote and advance the academic accomplishments of their new schools” said Dr. Thacker.

The Administrative changes will be effective July 1, 2017.