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McHugh named assistant principal at Central Elementary
Eight weeks of retirement was apparently enough for a local school administrator.
Having just retired as principal at Deer Meadow Primary School in the Greencastle district, Mike McHugh was announced Thursday as the new assistant principal at South Putnam Central Elementary.
The South Putnam School Board approved McHugh’s hire along with several other personnel items in a special meeting focused mainly on personnel prior to the start of school on Wednesday, Aug. 7.
However, this wasn’t just any job opportunity that McHugh took. Instead, it was a chance to work closely with a former colleague in new Central Principal Joanna Muncie.
Muncie spent five years with McHugh as her boss when she was the home-school liaison at Deer Meadow from 2018-2023. The veteran administrator also spent one year as principal at Ridpath Primary when Muncie was a teacher there.
Now the shoe is on the other foot.
“It’s the dynamic duo back in action,” Muncie said with a laugh. “He enjoyed retirement, but I begged him to come back.”
Any joking aside, Muncie, who spent the last year as Todd Gowen’s assistant at Central, knew exactly what she wanted in choosing a replacement for herself. She was aware all along that one particular person could fill the need.
“We’ve always worked well together. It’s like yin and yang. We’ve made a great team,” Muncie said. “When I was going through the process and interviewing candidates, I had great candidates but maybe they didn’t check all the boxes. So I called Mike and said, ‘I don’t know what to do. Can you come and work for me?’”
For his part, McHugh said that finding another job didn’t exactly come as a surprise.
“I knew I would be working doing something in retirement,” McHugh said. “I was just looking at different options inside and outside of education. Joanna had reached out and said, ‘As a first-year principal, I could use someone with your experience.’”
Considering the opportunity, McHugh figured it helped keep him doing what he loves without as much stress.
“I thought this could be a way to work with kids and educators, and hopefully reduce stress,” McHugh said. “I thought, ‘OK, we’ll give it a shot.’ I think there will be a change in responsibilities and opportunities. Different administration roles have differing responsibilities, and maybe it could free me up to be around kids more.”
Looking back on his truncated retirement, McHugh said, “I had eight really nice weeks of mindless work at home that were wonderful.”
McHugh has been an educator for 35 years, the last 10 as Deer Meadow principal.
He also took a moment to thank Greencastle Schools for the opportunities afforded to both himself and Muncie.
“We were blessed to be able to work at Greencastle with wonderful administrators and others, and we are equally blessed here,” he said.
Muncie is really looking forward to having her mentor back in the office next door.
“He’s been my mentor before, and he’ll now help mentor me behind the scenes and I can become a better leader,” she said. “I’m excited to be the principal and be in charge, but I’m excited to have somebody who’s been there done that and I can bounce ideas off of.”
McHugh isn’t the only recent departure from Greencastle Schools hired by South Putnam, as former Greencastle Middle School English teacher Tanis Nicklasch was approved for a middle school English position at South Putnam Middle/High School.
Additional personnel items included:
New hires: Adam Hammond as Central special education teacher and Brittany Glaze and Kaytelin Denny as pre-K instructional assistants at Fillmore Elementary.
Transfers: Heather Nees from SPMH/HS teacher to director of student and professional learning and Brad Hudson from SPHS history teacher to Options program director.
Resignations: Sydney McKee as Central fifth-grade teacher, Broc Leslie as SPMS/HS Options program teacher, Adam Timcheck as Fillmore pre-K instructional assistant, Sheila Thompson as Fillmore custodian, Anne Marie Bunton as food services worker and Natalie Hodge as high school student council sponsor.