Published: August 11, 2008 11:35 pm            

K-C hires assistant superintendent

Linda Thompson spent last year in Dubai.

The Kokomo-Center School Corp. hired its last administrator Monday, with two days to spare before students return to classes Wednesday.

The board hired Dr. Linda L. Thompson as the corporation’s assistant superintendent, and she began work immediately.

Thompson replaced former assistant superintendent Deborah Glass, who is now serving as principal of Lafayette Park Middle School.

Thompson spent the last year in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where she and her husband worked with a start-up university, Dubai Aerospace Enterprise University. Prior to that, she was associate superintendent of Lafayette School Corp. She had also been an assistant superintendent in the Lafayette schools, as well as director of elementary education and an elementary principal in that corporation.

Kokomo-Center Superintendent Chris Himsel, who began work in July, was an assistant superintendent in the Lafayette schools with Thompson.

Thompson’s other job experience includes serving as Super Saturday coordinator for Purdue University, gifted and talented coordinator and teacher for North White School Corp., and a middle school teacher for Frontier School Corp. in Chalmers. She also taught at the university in Dubai and was a professor for English language learners and cultural context for Butler University.

Thompson graduated from Frontier High School in Brookston and earned a bachelor of arts degree in elementary education from Purdue University in 1976. She earned a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction in 1980 and her Ph.D. in educational administration in 2004, also from Purdue.

Thompson said she was interested in the Kokomo-Center job because “it looked to be a good fit with the needs of the school corporation and the talents I have developed over my career.”

Pennye Siefert, the school’s director of human resources, said she received 11 applications, and she, Himsel and Eric Rody, director of business affairs, interviewed seven candidates. She said there were no applications from within the school corporation.

The board approved a two-year contract for Thompson, at a salary of $93.334.

        

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