North Judson-San Pierre Hires Junior/Senior High Principal

BluejayThe North Judson-San Pierre School Board Tuesday night hired a new principal for the combined junior/senior high school. The vacancy was created by the recent promotion of Dr. Annette Zupin from high school principal to superintendent.

Jim Polite will take over the job on July 1. His administrative experience includes one year as assistant principal at Kankakee Valley High School, and four years each as principal and assistant principal at Thomas Jefferson Middle School in Valparaiso. He will be paid $86,000 per year.

Polite graduated from Washington Township High School in rural Porter County and says he always appreciated that small school setting.

“I really enjoyed having an opportunity to work with both ends of the spectrum – the younger students at the middle school level and then also the older student at the high school level. This provided me a wonderful opportunity to be able to demonstrate and work with both ranges of students, who I feel I’m very effective with. It also gave me an opportunity to return to a small school setting, which I’ve longed to do.”

Polite’s goals include improving the schools’ letter grades and working to bring ISTEP scores up, especially in the math area. He also wants to establish better communication with the community and share with them all of the good things that are taking place at North Judson-San Pierre Junior/Senior High School. Beyond that Polite says he wants to continue to create and establish an environment in the building that’s conducive to learning and to helping each and every student each and every day to reach their full potential.

The school board on Tuesday also approved salaries for North Judson-San Pierre Elementary Principal Mike McBride for $86,060 and Junior/Senior High School Assistant Principal Kevin Cox. He will earn $67,400 in 2016-17. Those are the same salaries both were getting during the 2015-16 school year.