Today (Tuesday, June 20), P-H-M Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker announced that Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Dr. Kay Antonelli had accepted an appointment with another school district effective June 30.

 

“I both admire and appreciate Dr. Antonelli’s passion for education. We thank her for her six years of service at P-H-M,” said Dr. Thacker.

 

With Dr. Antonelli’s departure a few P-H-M administrators have been appointed to new leadership roles for the upcoming 2017-2018 school year. The following administrative changes will be effective July 1:

 

• 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.
• With Mr. Snyder's central office appointment, Walt Disney Elementary School Principal Mrs. Lavon Dean-Null as Schmucker's new principal.
• Current Madison Elementary School Principal Ryan Towner will become Walt Disney's principal.
• And, filling the Madison principal’s position will be Kevin McMillen, who has served as Schmucker Middle School's assistant principal.
   

Heather Short has 23 years of service with P-H-M, serving as director of Professional Development in the Learning Division for the past 10 years. Before that, Mrs. Short was the principal of Prairie Vista from 2004-2007, and was previously the assistant principal. Mrs. Short also served as the director of the Gifted and Talented Program from 2001-2003 after teaching for seven years at four P-H-M schools: Grissom, Mary Frank, North Point and Prairie Vista. St. Joseph County Chamber of Commerce named Mrs. Short to Michiana’s “Forty under 40” Class in 2008. Mrs. Short is currently working on her Ph.D. Educational Leadership through Purdue University.

 

Jayson Snyder as the current principal of Meadow’s Edge helped the school achieve “Four Star School” status for the first time in its history. Along with Mrs. Short, Mr. Snyder is also enrolled in Purdue’s Doctoral Program for Educational Leadership. Mr. Snyder has organized a number of broader District initiatives, including the P-H-M Teacher Job Fair. This successful recruitment event was held for the second time this past February and has attracted nearly 275 qualified applicants in just two years. Mr. Snyder developed a Districtwide model for elementary RtI documentation, co-chaired several Districtwide curriculum adoptions and assisted in designing and implementing a professional development program for new P-H-M elementary teachers. Mr. Snyder was the 2010 recipient of the IUSB School of Education’s Excellence Award in School Administration and was named to the 2014 Michiana “Forty under 40” Class. He is also this year’s IASP District 2 Elementary Principal of the Year.

 

Lavon Dean-Null was named as principal of Walt Disney last school year and before that served as assistant principal of Grissom. She taught Language Arts and Social Studies at Discovery 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. Mrs. Dean-Null 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.

 

Ryan Towner has been principal of Madison since 2015 and before that was assistant to the principal at Walt Disney under Randy Williams. Mr. Towner began with P-H-M as a 5th grade teacher at Prairie Vista in 2011. Another corporation leadership post that Mr. Towner holds is Federal Grants Program Administrator, overseeing our Title I, II and III grants. Mr. Towner was the 2016 recipient of the IUSB School of Education’s Excellence Award in School Administration. The Indiana Department of Education recently named Madison a “Four Star School.”

 

Kevin McMillen has served P-H-M students for 22 years. He was named as one of Schmucker’s two assistant principals in 2015, and before that he served as an interim assistant principal. While teaching first year German at Penn in 1995, Mr. McMillen also taught at Discovery and Schmucker. He helped create the 7th and 8th grade World Languages District curriculum introducing students to German, French, Spanish and Japanese cultures--a program he taught for 10 years at Schmucker and Discovery! Mr. McMillen has also organized and led many European student experiential learning trips over the years. At Discovery, Mr. McMillen coached 8th grade football, as well as 7th and 8th grade girls track. Mr. McMillen’s many P-H-M leadership roles also include serving on the RtI and on the School Improvement Plan Committees.

 

“I am confident that Heather, Jayson, Lavon, Ryan and Kevin will continue the great work started by their predecessors and that each will bring their own strengths to these new positions to continue the momentum moving forward to even greater accomplishments,” said Dr. Thacker.