Administrative Appointments Approved
The Fort Wayne Community Schools Board of School Trustees on Monday, June 14, approved several administrative appointments for the 2021-22 school year.
Barbara Ahlersmeyer, Northrop High School, Interim Principal
Barbara Ahlersmeyer returns to Northrop High School for an encore assignment, seven years after she retired as principal of Northrop. She began her education career in 1969 as a teacher in East Allen County Schools where she stayed until 1993 when she joined FWCS as the Manager of Student Services. She became principal of Northwood Middle School in 1996 and was assigned to Northrop as principal in 2004 until her retirement in 2014. Since she retired, she has returned to FWCS to take several short-term assignments. She will serve as interim principal of Northrop for the 2021-22 school year.
Jack Byrd, Chief Technology Officer
Jack Byrd joined FWCS in 1984 as a programmer. As the Technology Department grew, he took on new roles, including program analyst, supervisor of business information systems and manager of information systems before being named Director of Technology in 2000. The title of Chief Technology Officer recognizes the integral role technology has in education today.
Ramona Coleman, Assistant Superintendent of Professional Learning
Ramona Coleman started her education career at Taylor Independent School District in Taylor, Texas, in 1983 as a special education teacher. She joined FWCS in 1987 and taught at Croninger Elementary School until she became a district coach in 2009. She then moved into her current role overseeing the Professional Learning Department. Her new title of Assistant Superintendent of Professional Learning recognizes the importance of the ongoing professional learning needs of new and veteran staff members.
Rebecca Larson, Director of Nutrition Services
Rebecca Larson returns to Fort Wayne Community Schools after a decade away. She began her career in 1998 at Valley View Medical Center in Utah as a dietary department manager. From there she moved to Alpine School District as Foodservice Nutrition Education Coordinator in 2001. She joined FWCS as a Registered Dietitian/Nutrition Coordinator in 2003 and remained in that role until 2010 when she took a position at Georgia Southern University as a Clinical Instructor of Nutrition & Food Science and as the Dietetic Internship Director. Between 2012 and 2016, she took on an additional role as the director/principal investigator for the Georgia Department of Education School Nutrition Program. In 2017 she moved to Fort Valley State University to become Director of Food & Nutrition Didactic Program as well as Assistant Professor. After earning her doctorate in public health, she moved to the University of Alabama in the fall of 2019, becoming Assistant Professor in Health Science (Public Health).
At FWCS, she replaces Candice Hagar, who is retiring.
Get Nichols, Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education
Get Nichols began her career in education in 1980 as a first-grade teacher in Oklahoma. She joined FWCS in 1994 as a substitute teacher and was hired as a third-grade teacher at Price Elementary in 1996. In 1999, she participated in the administrative intern program and was assigned as principal of Brentwood Elementary in 2000 where she stayed for seven years. In 2007, she was named an Elementary Director in the Office of the Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education, and in 2016, she was promoted to Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education. Her title changed to Chief of School Leadership when she oversaw both elementary and secondary schools. Returning to Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education allows for a greater focus on elementary schools.
Nikki Sprunger, Assistant Superintendent of Special Education
Nikki Sprunger joined FWCS in 2017 as Director of Special Education with 36 years of education experience. She came to FWCS from the Adams Wells Special Services Cooperative in Bluffton where she served as Special Education Director. Her education career started as a sixth-grade teacher in 1981 at St. Mary Catholic School in Rushville. In 1986, she took her first position in special education as the itinerant learning disabilities teacher at the East Central Special Services District in Connersville. She then moved to the North Central Indiana Special Education Cooperative in Warsaw and then Fairfield Community Schools, where she stayed until 2012 when she took the position with Adams Wells. Her new title of Assistant Superintendent of Special Education recognizes the importance of meeting the need of students with special needs.
Debra Faye Williams-Robbins, Deputy Superintendent
Debra Faye Williams-Robbins joined FWCS in 1978 as a substitute teacher at what was then Bunche Elementary School. She began her full-time teaching career at Arlington Elementary in 1979 and through the years taught first-, fifth- and sixth-grade students there. She served as seventh-grade teacher at Lakeside Middle School and dean/counselor at Miami Middle School before becoming principal of Arlington Elementary in 1992. She was named Area Administrator of the South Side and Northrop areas in 2001 and was later named Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education. In 2015, she became the first Chief of Student, Family and Community Engagement. As Deputy Superintendent, she continues her role overseeing the departments in the Family and Community Engagement Center, overseeing the secondary schools, equity matters and additional assignments as determined by the Superintendent.