FOUNTAIN CITY, Ind. — Northeastern Wayne Schools approved its new superintendent along with middle, high school and elementary school principals Wednesday night.
Dr. Matthew Hicks — who has spent the past two years as principal at Northeastern High School — has been named the district's next superintendent. Joined by his wife and children at Wednesday night's school board meeting in the high school library, Hicks said he's incredibly excited to lead the company.
“There's a big base here, obviously Dr. Blasing has been in the same place for seven years building it so it can continue to grow and evolve,” Hicks said. “I feel that I am personally and professionally in a position to continue this growth and forward movement.”
Hicks takes over for Laura Blessing, who spent the past seven years as superintendent and will head to Miamisburg City Schools after July 31 for the same role. Positive relationships with other county superintendents and Hicks' close coordination with Blessing over the past few years should help make for a smooth transition, he said.
“The opportunity to work with someone like Laura over the past two years has been tremendous,” Hicks said. “We were classmates before that, so our thinking is influenced by Ball State, where we both received our Ph.D.s, and our network that we developed there.”
Hicks' promotion led to the high school principal's vacancy also being filled Wednesday night.
With more than 30 years of administrative experience and the football field at Hagerstown High School named after him, Mark Childs' name rings bells in Wayne County.
Childs has been the football coach and assistant principal at Hagerstown since 1984 for six years. He became the school's principal in 1990 and remained in that role until 2018 when the longtime coach underwent amputation.
During the 2019-20 school year, Childs was the director of alternative education for Western Wayne and spent his mornings with the alternative school lab at Lincoln Jr./Sr. Middle school, his afternoons with third- and fourth-grade boys and his evenings coaching running backs and linebackers for the Tigers at, none other than Mark Childs Field.
Now, amid a global pandemic and management review, Childs' new endeavor involves leading the NHS on an interim basis.
“What I was most interested in was learning that Northeastern was looking for someone who could provide stability, so I think my 33 years of administrative experience will really help during the transitions,” Childs said.
“If I can come and continue what Dr. Hicks and keep the ship in the same direction, then I have achieved his goal of why I was hired here and my goal. And that's to provide students and the community, as well as parents, with reassurance that things are good and that we're going where we need to be.”
Children will serve as the high school principal for a year on an interim basis. No plans have yet been made for beyond this period.
Kelly Plank was also approved Wednesday night as principal of Northeastern Middle School. She was previously principal at Fairview Elementary and replaces Dawn Sonsini who has joined Nettle Creek Schools as director of learning.
Jamie Harshman is the final administrator in a new role as she was approved as principal of Northeastern Elementary School. She previously served as principal at Union Elementary School (Modoc).
Northeastern will begin the 2020-21 school year in the fall with new administrators at every level, but Blessing is excited for the new era of Northeastern Wayne Schools.
“I am very excited about our new management team at Northeastern; they are still my team,” Blessing said. “I think they will make a great team and all of them will bring a lot of strengths to the table. Their experiences elsewhere will help continue to shape Northeastern in the right direction, so I'm very excited and wish them all the best of luck.”
,Scott Procter is the sports and education reporter at The Palladium-Item. Follow him on Twitter @SprocterPI or contact him at sprocter@gannett.com.
