Superintendent reflects on successful year for North Central Parke Schools

The 2025-26 school year was one for the record books for the North Central Parke Schools District. 

The boy's basketball team won a state championship. The girl's basketball team advanced to the Final Four again, while football posted the most wins since the 2021 season. 

And, inside the classrooms, there was plenty of success as well.

All those reasons are why Dr. Mike Schimpf, superintendent of North Central Parke Community Schools, is wearing a smile into the summer months. 

"What a great year. To get a state championship in basketball was just amazing. They were such a hard working group for a number of years, and we are just so proud of them. Athletics, obviously, is not our primary focus, but at the same time, it keeps a lot of kids engaged in their academic endeavors," Schimpf told The Parke County Post.

From an academic perspective, Schimpf said there is plenty to celebrate. 

"A little over a third of our students graduated with a year's worth of college done. We have eight students that ended up with associate's degrees straight out of high school. We have students now coming back and applying for positions after three years in college, and one graduated in two years because of all the credit she got done when she was at Parke Heritage," Schimpf said. 

The district uses the opportunity for high school students to earn college credit or an associate's degree as a tool to attract students. 

"We have really worked at trying to be intentional with what we are providing to students. We don't want it to just be education for education sake. We want it to lead for something. The state of Indiana a few years ago started focusing on employment, enlistment and enrollment, and we have tried to take that to heart. We track kids after graduation and we see people after graduation at a game and they don't know what their plan is. Sometimes we need to come along those students and we want them to reach out and let us know if we can help them get connected," Schimpf said. 

Along those lines, Schimpf said his district is also embracing entrepreneurship opportunities for his students.

"It just makes sense, especially with the rise of AI and these entry level jobs are getting harder for some people. We need to start up our own businesses and have that incubator focus in mind. That is something we will start looking at in the future, how to implement that better," he said. 

The success wasn't only limited to the high school, as Schimpf said gains were seen all across the district.

At the middle school level, there was a real focus by students on volunteer hours and creating a culture of family.

"I think we had around 5,200 hours donated in volunteer time at the middle school. That focus is tremendous," he said. 

In addition 100 percent of eighth graders earned at least one high school credit. 

At the elementary level, Schimpf said students are still scoring above the state average on IREAD. 

As he enjoys the summer, Schimpf maintains he is busy and is counting down the days until August. 

"We are starting to dial in on budgets, and we are in the process of looking for a new principal at Rockville Elementary. We are looking for someone to fill those shoes. We are looking forward to getting through that process, and we have some new hires and communications positions we are looking at. We have projects going on, transportation is getting looked at with our electric buses. Summer camp is underway with the YMCA doing a camp at Turkey Run Elementary. We have plenty going on this summer," Schimpf said.