T. Valley Hires New High School Principal; Honors Retirees
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
Dr. Michael Bendicsen replaces Kirk Doehrmann as Tippecanoe Valley High School principal. Doehrmann took a position with Whitley County Consolidated Schools, and his last day at Valley was May 15.
Bendicsen’s contract is for 230 days from July 1 to June 30, 2015. His salary is $87,500.
He comes to Valley from Knox Community School Corp., where he served as the assistant high school principal.
“While I was at Knox I had a great feeling about Tippecanoe Valley. It has a great reputation and I wanted to be a part of this team. I also wanted to find a place for my family, a place like this,” Bendicsen said after Monday’s school board meeting.
He said he and his family are planning to move to the Tippecanoe Valley School Corp. shortly. He and his wife, Elizabeth, have two children. Audrey will be in the second grade and Willem will be in kindergarten in the fall, both at Akron Elementary School.
As for his goals for the first year, Bendicsen said, “I plan to do a lot of listening initially. It’s important to get a sense of the school corporation before you do any changes.”
According to information provided by Superintendent Brett Boggs, Bendicsen started teaching in 1993 at Valparaiso High School. Through 2001 he also taught at Portage High School, Memorial Elementary School, Hayes Leonard Elementary School, Ben Franklin Middle School and the Porter County Career Center/Alternative High School.
He left teaching for a year to become an officer for the Valparaiso Police Department, then returned to teaching at Lacrosse School from 2002 through 2005. In July 2005, Bendicsen became the principal of a large elementary school, Ivanhoe Elementary, in Gary, where he served for two years.
In August 2007, he became assistant principal at Knox High School.
Bendicsen earned a doctor of education degree from Oakland City University in March 2013.
He graduated from Valparaiso University with a bachelor’s degree in May 1993 with a major in history and a minor in secondary education. He earned a master’s degree in May 2005 from Purdue University Calumet with education administration as the area of study. In December 2011 he earned an educational specialist degree from Indiana Wesleyan University. He possesses an Indiana Teacher’s license, administrator’s license and superintendent’s license.
The information states Bendicsen is a current resident of Valparaiso.
At the January school board meeting, with the retirement of Assistant Superintendent Dr. Daniel Kramer effective July 1, Tippecanoe Valley Middle School Principal Blaine Conley was approved to serve as Valley’s new assistant superintendent, with TVMS Assistant Principal Scott Backus taking over the role of principal at the middle school. Cory Cooper was approved as the new TVMS assistant principal at the April 21 meeting.
Last night Kramer was honored for his 41 years in education, 35 at Tippecanoe Valley. Twenty-two of those 35 years were in the central office, Boggs said. Kramer taught five years as a fifth- and sixth-grade teacher in the Lafayette area, and worked one year in the Educational Placement Office at Purdue University.
He served nine years as principal at Akron, four years as Mentone’s principal, 17 years in the central office as assistant superintendent and five years as superintendent.
Kramer told the board that when he came to Valley in 1979, a professor at Purdue told him to stay at TVSC for two years, get some experience and then move on.
“I’ve been here 35 years. I’ve had more administrative opportunities than I envisioned I would. This is home for (my wife) Bonnie and me. This is the only home my kids have known,” he said.
He added that he’s very grateful for the many people who allowed him to stay at Valley.
“I feel very, very blessed and fortunate that’s happened,” he said. “I appreciate all the support and opportunities I’ve had to be a part of this corporation the last 35 years.”
Board President Bryan Murphy presented him with a gift for his 35 years of doing a “great job. We’ll miss you.”
In information provided by Boggs, Kramer said he has a brother in New York and one in Colorado that he and Bonnie would like to visit more frequently now that he’s retired. She has two brothers in Indianapolis they also want to visit more.
“And we want to see our own children more often, as well as, routinely ‘spoiling’ our grandchildren and supporting them in their activities. I plan to do some community and school volunteer service and to stay current in the field of education,” Kramer stated.
Boggs and the board also honored eighth-grade mathematics teacher Robert Hinkle, who retired after 44 years with the school corporation. Boggs and several of the board members had Hinkle as a teacher.
He taught five years at Mentone High School, followed by 20 years at Akron Junior High School and 19 years at TVMS. He coached boys basketball at Akron Junior High School and girls basketball at TVHS and TVMS.
“I’m going to miss it, I know,” Hinkle said. “I’m going to miss the kids. I’m not happy with the state of Indiana. I’m going to miss the kids though.”
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Dr. Michael Bendicsen replaces Kirk Doehrmann as Tippecanoe Valley High School principal. Doehrmann took a position with Whitley County Consolidated Schools, and his last day at Valley was May 15.
Bendicsen’s contract is for 230 days from July 1 to June 30, 2015. His salary is $87,500.
He comes to Valley from Knox Community School Corp., where he served as the assistant high school principal.
“While I was at Knox I had a great feeling about Tippecanoe Valley. It has a great reputation and I wanted to be a part of this team. I also wanted to find a place for my family, a place like this,” Bendicsen said after Monday’s school board meeting.
He said he and his family are planning to move to the Tippecanoe Valley School Corp. shortly. He and his wife, Elizabeth, have two children. Audrey will be in the second grade and Willem will be in kindergarten in the fall, both at Akron Elementary School.
As for his goals for the first year, Bendicsen said, “I plan to do a lot of listening initially. It’s important to get a sense of the school corporation before you do any changes.”
According to information provided by Superintendent Brett Boggs, Bendicsen started teaching in 1993 at Valparaiso High School. Through 2001 he also taught at Portage High School, Memorial Elementary School, Hayes Leonard Elementary School, Ben Franklin Middle School and the Porter County Career Center/Alternative High School.
He left teaching for a year to become an officer for the Valparaiso Police Department, then returned to teaching at Lacrosse School from 2002 through 2005. In July 2005, Bendicsen became the principal of a large elementary school, Ivanhoe Elementary, in Gary, where he served for two years.
In August 2007, he became assistant principal at Knox High School.
Bendicsen earned a doctor of education degree from Oakland City University in March 2013.
He graduated from Valparaiso University with a bachelor’s degree in May 1993 with a major in history and a minor in secondary education. He earned a master’s degree in May 2005 from Purdue University Calumet with education administration as the area of study. In December 2011 he earned an educational specialist degree from Indiana Wesleyan University. He possesses an Indiana Teacher’s license, administrator’s license and superintendent’s license.
The information states Bendicsen is a current resident of Valparaiso.
At the January school board meeting, with the retirement of Assistant Superintendent Dr. Daniel Kramer effective July 1, Tippecanoe Valley Middle School Principal Blaine Conley was approved to serve as Valley’s new assistant superintendent, with TVMS Assistant Principal Scott Backus taking over the role of principal at the middle school. Cory Cooper was approved as the new TVMS assistant principal at the April 21 meeting.
Last night Kramer was honored for his 41 years in education, 35 at Tippecanoe Valley. Twenty-two of those 35 years were in the central office, Boggs said. Kramer taught five years as a fifth- and sixth-grade teacher in the Lafayette area, and worked one year in the Educational Placement Office at Purdue University.
He served nine years as principal at Akron, four years as Mentone’s principal, 17 years in the central office as assistant superintendent and five years as superintendent.
Kramer told the board that when he came to Valley in 1979, a professor at Purdue told him to stay at TVSC for two years, get some experience and then move on.
“I’ve been here 35 years. I’ve had more administrative opportunities than I envisioned I would. This is home for (my wife) Bonnie and me. This is the only home my kids have known,” he said.
He added that he’s very grateful for the many people who allowed him to stay at Valley.
“I feel very, very blessed and fortunate that’s happened,” he said. “I appreciate all the support and opportunities I’ve had to be a part of this corporation the last 35 years.”
Board President Bryan Murphy presented him with a gift for his 35 years of doing a “great job. We’ll miss you.”
In information provided by Boggs, Kramer said he has a brother in New York and one in Colorado that he and Bonnie would like to visit more frequently now that he’s retired. She has two brothers in Indianapolis they also want to visit more.
“And we want to see our own children more often, as well as, routinely ‘spoiling’ our grandchildren and supporting them in their activities. I plan to do some community and school volunteer service and to stay current in the field of education,” Kramer stated.
Boggs and the board also honored eighth-grade mathematics teacher Robert Hinkle, who retired after 44 years with the school corporation. Boggs and several of the board members had Hinkle as a teacher.
He taught five years at Mentone High School, followed by 20 years at Akron Junior High School and 19 years at TVMS. He coached boys basketball at Akron Junior High School and girls basketball at TVHS and TVMS.
“I’m going to miss it, I know,” Hinkle said. “I’m going to miss the kids. I’m not happy with the state of Indiana. I’m going to miss the kids though.”
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