Subscribe
Jobs
Cars
Real Estate
Apts
Classifieds
Shop
The assistant principal of Columbia City High School was tapped to be the principal of the charter school opening on Broadway this fall.
The Imagine MASTer Academy board Wednesday approved the hiring of Jim Huth as leader of Imagine Schools on Broadway, which will open in August at the former Emmaus Lutheran Church site. The school will be run by Imagine Schools, a charter school management company based in Arlington, Va., which also oversees Imagine MASTer Academy on Wells Street.
Huth was among 30 to 40 applicants for the position and one of four interviewed by a committee, said Jason Bryant, regional vice president for Imagine Schools.
“We all thought that this gentleman would be the man to do it for a variety of reasons,” Bryant said.
One of those reasons was Huth’s tie to the Broadway area, Bryant said. Huth grew up in that neighborhood, and his mother still lives there, he said. Bryant thinks the new school, set to serve kindergarten through fifth-grade students, will draw children from the neighborhood, and he thinks Huth’s connections will give the school more credibility.
Huth will begin his new job Feb. 5 at an annual salary of $80,000, Bryant said.
Huth, 45, said he’s interested in trying a new venture.
“It’s the right time in my life … to do something different,” Huth said.
Board members who sat in on Huth’s interviews and Imagine MASTer Academy Principal Guy Platter commended Huth during Wednesday’s meeting.
“He has a reputation of being a decent guy and treating people well,” Platter said.
The new charter school is projected to serve 550 students, and officials will begin enrolling Feb. 1 through March 31.
Charter schools are public schools that operate more independently in exchange for additional accountability. In addition to four-year public universities, the mayor of Indianapolis has authority to grant charters. So far, Ball State is the only college in Indiana to have taken advantage.
ksoderlund@jg.net
