Cup O CronkI have been blessed with working for three great principals; Roger Norris hired me and was my principal for two years.  My second principal and Fishers Junior High School’s first principal was Brian Cronk; he established the building, every tradition started during Brian’s reign.

Brian is my friend; I used to hide in his office after school and just stare out the window; he never felt the need to interrupt my stare he just kept working.  We could talk for hours about baseball remembering players from long ago.  Brian, Mike Beresford, and I did a book study on A Purpose Driven Life together.  His friendship alone would be enough to earn my thanks, but it was his time as principal that earns this thanks.
Brian’s gruff demeanor hides a genuine heart for people and students.  He cares greatly for his staff (still does) and has been an empathetic ear to so many.  As a leader he trusted us.  He understood that if you hire good, hardworking people that they would work hard  to do what was best for kids.  He would listen to ideas and some he would agree with and some he would not, but in the end his decisions were not about the easy path, it was about the right path.

Nobody worked harder than Brian.  He spent hours beyond the normal day getting things done.  He did so to try and protect his staff from needless busy work.  I loved him for that.  When I would bring my girls in to the school on Saturdays they loved to go by themselves down to the teachers lounge and get a soda; there were times that they would be gone longer than expected, but I did not worry because I knew were they were.  I would walk down to the principal’s office and there they would be engrossed in a conversation with Mr. Cronk; he would put aside everything that he was working on and engage two elementary age girls in a conversation about life and school; they still hold those memories of him as dear.

I count my blessings to have worked for Brian for a decade and with him for 17 years.