Dr. Jerry Thacker Named 2012 Indiana Superintendent of the Year

INDIANAPOLIS- October 12, 2011 -- Dr. Jerry L. Thacker has been named Indiana 2012 Superintendent of the Year by the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents (IAPSS). He was selected from seven superintendents who were named District Superintendents of the Year in September. 
As the 2012 Indiana Superintendent of the Year Thacker becomes Indiana’s nominee for the American Association of School Administrators’ (AASA) National Superintendent of the Year Award.
            “Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation has an outstanding list of accomplishments under Dr. Thacker’s leadership,” said Dr. John Ellis, executive director of IAPSS. “During the 2009-2010 school year every elementary and middle school in his district achieved Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), five schools were 4-Star schools, and Penn High School was named one of 12 exemplary AP schools in Indiana and received a Bronze award from U.S. News & World Report as one of the best high schools in the nation. The following year Northpoint Elementary School was named a National Blue Ribbon School. The district is among the top 5 percent in the state for SAT and AP scores. Despite a decline in state financial support, the Penn-Harris-Madison district has creatively used available resources to boost instructional programs, and they have found innovative ways to save $2 million on energy costs, $800,000 on property and casualty insurance and $5 million in health insurance costs.” 
Thacker serves on the board of directors for the Project Future economic development group for St. Joseph County, as a Commissioner for the St. Joseph County Area Plan Commission, and as a board member for IAPSS. He was president of the Indiana Urban Schools Association in 2006 and of the Mid-American Association of School Superintendents in 2009. 
Thacker has been superintendent of Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation since 2006. He served as superintendent of Logansport Community School Corporation from 1998-2006 and was an administrator in the Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township in Indianapolis from 1990 to 1998.
 He is a graduate of Bethel College, earned his master's at Indiana University South Bend and his doctorate at Andrews University.