Every year the Indiana Association of School Principals program splits the state of Indiana into 12 districts. SHS resides in district seven, which covers Marion County. The program then receives nominations for principals and assistant principals of the year for each district. Once the 12 district winners are named, they are then put on a ballot for the state level award.

SHS Assistant Principal Amy Boone has been named the 2022 Assistant Principal of the year for district seven, and she is now on the ballot to win the state level award. 

Principal Brian Knight nominated Boone for the district award through the Indiana Association of School Principals last spring.

“She’s kind of always been my right hand man, so to speak,” Knight said. “She’s who I go to for a lot of stuff. She’s got past experience, but she’s also really bright and very organized… so she’s kind of the person that I use probably more than anyone else to talk through situations or problems.”

Boone has already won the district seven award before, and Knight saw this year as another opportunity to bring her often overlooked contributions to light.

“She doesn’t always get the credit she probably deserves because of the position that she’s in,” Knight said. “But she deserves probably as much credit as you can get for working with our teachers and making sure that we’re the school that we try to be every day.”

Boone’s duties as an assistant principal include a lot of behind-the-scenes work. She is in charge of organizing the master schedule, graduation pathways, state testing day, long term leave positions for teachers, field trips and transportation, fundraising requests and more.

Boone herself is grateful for the nomination, even though it is not exactly what she signed up for as an educator.

“You never go into education really ever looking for awards or getting recognized because you go into it to serve other people,” Boone said. “But it’s an honor because there’s a lot of amazing administrators in Perry Township and Marion County and across the state, so even to be thought of for the work that I’m doing is pretty cool.”

Whenever a principal or assistant principal is nominated for the state level award, they are required to submit a teacher recommendation letter to the Indiana Association of School Principals.

Spanish teacher Jamie Marshall was the one to fill out this letter for Boone, who she has worked with for 15 years and counting. Marshall admires Boone for the work that she does, especially during state testing season.

“When you see our school functioning in those types of situations like a well-oiled machine, that is her organizational genius that had been at work behind the scenes to make that day happen and to make that day run smoothly,” Marshall said.

A winner for the state award has already been chosen, but will not be announced until the IASP awards banquet on Nov. 18. Each district winner is invited to this ceremony, including Boone.

“We think it’s our best way to honor our outstanding administrators in the state,” said Tim McRoberts, the IASP Associate Executive Director. “And just to be a district winner is a really huge honor.”