FeedsDistrict welcomes new principals
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Valerie Orr (left) and David Ingham were named the new principals at Wayne Memorial and John Glenn high schools at the Wayne-Westland School Board meeting Monday night.Wayne-Westland Community School Board members tapped some familiar faces to fill prominent roles within the district on Monday night.
The board hired principals for John Glenn and Wayne Memorial high schools and named former Glenn Principal Joan Sedik to the executive cabinet.
Valerie Orr will be the new principal at Wayne Memorial and David Ingham will take over for Sedik at John Glenn.
“I think the school district will benefit by them,” said Martha Pitsenbarger, who was voted in as school board present moments earlier.
Sedik will be the new executive director of human resources, according to Greg Baracy, superintendent of the Wayne-Westland School District. She had been principal at John Glenn for eight years and served as assistant principal there from 1995-2000. She has taught in the district since 1970.
“This is not something I had in my plans for the future, but I’m excited about the new challenges,” she said.
Orr has been one of the assistant principals at Wayne Memorial for the past two years. She has worked in the district since 2001 as a math teacher and counselor at Franklin Middle School. She has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and sociology as well as a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction and has gone through the Aspiring Principals Program at Wayne County RESA, said Baracy.
“She has been involved in a lot of school improvement initiatives and a lot of staff improvement initiatives,” Baracy added.
Ingham came to the Wayne-Westland District from the Taylor School District in 2002. He was a teacher and interim assistant principal there. She’s served as assistant principal at John Glenn from 2002-2003 and as principal of Adams Middle School since 2003. He thanked Baracy for hiring him away from Taylor.
“You’ve given me the opportunity to be a part of an excellent school district where the focus has always been on the students,” he told the superintendent and the school board.
Board member Skip Monit said the district always likes to promote from within, whenever possible.
“I think it shows how many talented people we have in the school district,” he said.
Board secretary Cindy Schofield agreed. “I could be happier that all the pieces fell together like this,” she said. “(They’ll) do a wonderful job.”
Orr, a Wayne resident, said she looked forward to starting her new role at the high school.
“I’m overwhelmed and humbled,” she said. “There’s not many people that can say they have the job of their dreams. There’s no place else I’d rather be.”
