Tuckahoe School Board Hires Principal; Assistant Principal Resigns

The Tuckahoe School Board voted unanimously Monday to hire a new principal, Kevin Storch, splitting the superintendent-principal position into two jobs and eliminating the assistant principal post.

Current Assistant Principal Gail Ackerson has resigned effective July 27, District Clerk Linda Springer said. Springer said school board members had previously voted to give themselves the option to sever the superintendent-principal position, and they took that option in hiring Storch, whose contract is from July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2014.

Superintendent-principal Chris Dyer will remain with the district as superintendent.

Storch, his wife and two children currently reside in Orlando, Florida, but he grew up a small farming community outside of Indianapolis, Indiana, according to a letter he wrote to the Tuckahoe community introducing himself. His wife, Laurie, is also an elementary school principal, and other members of his family, including his grandparents and mother, have been educators as well, he wrote.

Storch majored in art education at Ohio State, graduating in 1989. Shortly after, he moved to Orlando and began teaching art classes in an elementary school, according to his letter. He went on to another elementary school in 1994 and began working on his master’s degree in educational leadership at the University of Central Florida. From there, he became an assistant principal at a 1,500-student Florida elementary school in 1998 and stayed for five years. Next, he worked at his fourth elementary school as assistant principal and was promoted to work on education for students with “profound disabilities.”

For the past seven years, Storch has served as principal of Hidden Oaks Elementary, his fifth Florida elementary school, and he is a co-chair of a consortium of principals focused on improving instruction from kindergarten through 12th grade, according to his letter.