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Directors and athletic director among new additions to Johnstown this fall

Directors and athletic director among new additions to Johnstown this fall

JOHNSTOWN – Several new faces will be joining the Johnstown-Monroe School District for 2024-25, including some new administrators.

The Board of Education approved the appointment of Michael Shipton as principal of Johnstown High School during a special meeting earlier this month.

The board’s decision came after Angel King accepted a position with another school district and will return to her southern Ohio hometown where she will be closer to her family.

Shipton previously served as the assistant principal of Licking Heights High School beginning in 2018. Before that, he was the assistant principal of West Elementary School at Heights from 2014-2018. Additionally, he was a teacher for Reynoldsburg School District at Waggoner Road Middle School from 2005-2013.

At the June board meeting, three more key positions were filled.

Bradley Wehrman will be the new principal of Johnstown Intermediate School. He has been the principal of grades K-3 and K-5 for Southwest Licking Local Schools since 2013, overseeing approximately 500 students.

He previously served as assistant principal of the Licking Valley Local School District and resides in Licking County.

Greg Gantt has been selected as Johnstown’s new athletic director. He comes to Johnstown from South-Western City Schools, where he served as athletic supervisor at Westland High School.

Gantt is credited with building a substantial social media presence for athletics and restoring the school’s gymnastics program after a seven-year hiatus. He also partnered with a current NFL player to host a free youth camp.

Gantt also coordinated a successful fundraising effort for improvements to the gym and implemented a new coaching evaluation system. He previously worked at Harvest Preparatory School in Canal Winchester and was also associate head basketball coach at Independence High School in Columbus.

Abby Fitz has been approved as the new dean of students at Johnstown Middle School.

She comes to the district from Licking Valley Local Schools and Licking Valley Middle School, where she taught math (including high-risk math and Algebra 1), reading intervention (2010-2013), and language arts education (2009) since 2007.

Additionally, she has been a member of the Licking Valley “Building Leadership Team” since 2018 and of the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports Leadership Team and the District Special Education Committee (2015-2017).

Fitz is also a highly successful and respected volleyball coach at Licking Valley, with service in that coaching role dating back to 2007. She is a native of Licking County and has been a member of the Crossroads Christian Church Sunday School Leadership Team since 2019.

Tina Cox joins Johnstown High School as an instructional paraprofessional and as the new Johnstown girls volleyball head coach. She comes to the district from Licking Heights, where she has also been a highly successful softball and girls and boys volleyball coach. In 2022, she won the D2 Coach of the Year Award.

The school board also extended a teaching contract with Joel Foxall, who comes from Harvest Prep and will teach Spanish at Johnstown High School next school year.

Also, two new intervention specialists have been approved for Johnstown Middle School: Emilee Edwards and Vincente Giardino.

It was previously announced that Nick Hancock, dean of students at Johnstown Middle School, will assume the role of principal this year, succeeding Kris Almendinger, who is retiring after many years of service at Johnstown-Monroe.

During the May meeting, the school board also approved the appointment of Christian Grove as the new dean of students at Johnstown High School. Grove comes to Johnstown from neighboring Licking Heights Local Schools.