People Watch
School Administrator, March 2022


Kristie Medina

Kristie Medina is the new superintendent in Raton, N.M., where she previously was a principal at the high school and the intermediate school over nine years and spent two months as special education director. She also has been a reading coach and special education teacher in the same district. Medina’s career began as a special education teacher in Springer, N.M., where she assisted in developing a preschool program. She has been an AASA member since 2021.
 

Jennifer Murray

After several months as the interim superintendent in Reading, Pa., Jennifer Murray has been selected as the district’s permanent leader. Previously, she was the assistant superinten-dent in Reading for five years and held several other positions with the district, including principal, instructional supervisor and director of literacy. Murray began her teaching career in Reading as a special education teacher in 1998. She has been an AASA member since 2019 and received her Ed.D. from Immaculata University in Pennsylvania.


Anna Shepherd

Anna Shepherd is the new superintendent of the Floyd County School District in Prestonsburg, Ky., where she was serving as interim superintendent. Earlier, she was the school district’s chief early childhood officer for 11 years and worked as a curriculum resource teacher at Floyd County’s high school. Shepherd also was employed by the Kentucky Department of Education for three years. She began her education career as an elementary school teacher in 1992. She has been an AASA member since 2021.
Patricia Vickman

Patricia Vickman has accepted a new position as governance consultant for the Wisconsin Association of School Boards in Madison, Wis. Vickman previously was superintendent of the Southern Door County School District in Brussels, Wis., for more than nine years. She earlier held several posts in Oshkosh, Wis., including executive director of administration, principal and reading coordinator. A nine-year AASA member, Vickman began her career as a kindergarten teacher in 1976 in Green Bay, Wis.
SIDELIGHT

Growing up in a poor family in Fullerton, N.D. (population 40 at the time), Tim Godfrey learned to make what he called the “bare necessities” from scratch. The household hunted and fished for food and grew vegetables. These activities and other self-sufficiency pursuits such as beer brewing and bacon and jerky making provide the first-year superintendent of the Lake Park-Audubon Public Schools in northwestern Minnesota (and six-year AASA member) “that feeling of fulfillment when you’ve created something yourself and you sustain yourself.” Godfrey’s avocations have benefited from his travels as a superintendent in multiple North Dakota districts earlier and an Army enlistee for eight years. Annual hunting and fishing expeditions help him keep the freezer at home fully stocked.







APPOINTMENTS
Jill Gierasch, from superintendent, Mattituck-Cutchogue Union Free School District, Cutchogue, N.Y., to superintendent, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.
Michael V. Ginestre, from superintendent, Sherman, N.Y., to superintendent, Sweet Home Central School District, Amherst, N.Y.
P. Erik Gundersen, from superintendent, Pascack Valley Regional High School District, Montvale, N.J., to superintendent, Suffern Central School District, Hillburn, N.Y.
William D. Hawkins, from assistant superintendent of human resources, Hobbs, N.M., to superintendent, Silver Consolidated Schools, Silver City, N.M.
Brian Neenan, from interim superintendent to superintendent, Webster, N.Y.
Alvin D. Pressley, from director of secondary education, Lexington-Richland School District 5, Irmo, S.C., to superintendent, Newberry, S.C.
Paul Schrik, from superintendent, Rockdale, Ill., to superintendent, Troy Community School District 30-C, Plainfield, Ill.
Donald Stevens, from assistant superintendent to superintendent, Watervliet, N.Y.
Travis Waters, from superintendent, Steelton-Highspire School District, Steelton, Pa., to associate professor of educational leadership, Shippensburg University, Shippensburg, Pa.
RETIREMENTS