Board of Education approves Dr. Steven Koch as new building leader
The Community High School District 155 board of education approved Dr. Steven Koch as the new principal for Prairie Ridge High School, effective July 1. The appointment follows Principal Paul Humpa’s February announcement that he will return to the classroom for the 2013-2014 school year.
Dr. Koch is no stranger to Prairie Ridge, where he began his career in 2001 as an English teacher. Later he served the school as English department chair from 2005-2008. Currently, Dr. Koch is District 155’s director of staff development, working with teachers and administrators to create comprehensive programs to help teachers and staff members make a greater impact on students. He has led the effort to create an employee evaluation process, redesign the new faculty induction program, and organize an internal Type 75 and master’s degree program.
“As a Prairie Ridge teacher, I had a great opportunity to lead classes for every learning level: Advanced Placement, regular, and remedial,” said Koch. “Coupling this experience with my understanding of staff development, we will build off of Principal Humpa’s legacy to continually improve PR.”
Dr. Koch graduated summa cum laude from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a degree in secondary English education and also earned a master’s degree in English literature from the university. He holds a Type 75 administrative certificate and a doctorate from Northern Illinois University. Dr. Koch serves as an adjunct professor for the NIU graduate school of education, and he has presented at or been published in several education industry conferences and publications.
“Steve has shown a great talent for empowering teachers, faculty, and staff to help each student reach his or her full potential,” said Ted Wagner, board of education president. “The programs he has developed have had a profound, positive effect on how we educate and serve our community’s students.”
Dr. Koch will replace Paul Humpa who will return to the math classroom after 12 years as Prairie Ridge’s principal. With Humpa at the helm, PR students demonstrated increased academic and social-emotional growth and achieved great success in extracurricular activities.
“I have had the pleasure to work alongside inspiring teachers, incredible students, and supportive parents who value education,” Humpa said. “I am very excited to return to the classroom as a math teacher to inspire young minds.”
“I’ve had the privilege to work with and mentor Steve from his earliest days in the district,” Humpa continued. “I’m confident that he will provide leadership and support to the PR community so that our tradition of academic excellence continues.”
“We had a rigorous search process that included nearly 80 applicants and identified several impressive internal and external candidates for the two open principal positions,” said Dr. Johnnie Thomas, superintendent. “We incorporated the perspective of teachers, administrators, staff, parents, and students in the process, and together we were able to identify principals who will help District 155 take the next steps to become Illinois’ premier high school district.”
The board also took action to name Scott Shepard as principal of Crystal Lake South High School, succeeding Marsha Potthoff, who will transition to the District 155 administrative office as coordinator of grant writing and education services. Shepard will join District 155 as principal after five years serving Marengo High School in this role. While at Marengo, Shepard has implemented successful student improvement programs, overseen curricular enhancements, directed the evaluation process, created a one-to-one computer learning initiative, and worked on budget issues. Under his leadership, the school has implemented student engagement efforts and seen consistent student achievement growth, earning the school rankings of 61st and 1,956th in Illinois and the nation, respectively, on the recently released U.S. News & World Report best high schools list.