Matthew Edwards, left, and Dipa Patel Richardson, right.
(The following information was provided by North Penn School District.)
The North Penn School District (NPSD) Board of School Directors are pleased to share that they recently appointed Dipa Patel Richardson and Matthew Edwards as principals of York Avenue and Gwyn-Nor elementary schools, respectively.
Dipa Patel Richardson will join York Avenue Elementary School this summer, taking over for Nicole Berical who has been serving as interim principal following the retirement of former principal Lori Hoch earlier this school year.
With a Bachelor of Science Degree in Marketing and International Business with a minor in French from the University of Scranton, and a Master of Science Degree in both School Leadership and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from the University of Pennsylvania, Richardson has a diverse background in elementary and secondary education both in the United States and internationally.
Richardson spent the early years of her career in education at the Philadelphia School District from 2000 to 2005. Her roles there included literacy teacher (K-1), kindergarten teacher, and elementary English language (EL) summer school teacher. During that time, she also served as an English as a Foreign Language Teacher in Korea, Foreign Language Teacher and Cultural Trainer in Taiwan, and Business English Teacher in Philadelphia to pre-college students from China.
Before joining the North Penn family, Richardson has spent the last 16 years at neighboring district Hatboro-Horsham as lead English language teacher with a focus in diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
“I'm excited to serve the York Avenue community and proud to be a North Penn Knight!” Richardson shared.
No stranger to North Penn, Matt Edwards eagerly jumped right into the new role as he’d been serving as interim principal following the retirement of former principal Dr. Deborah McKay earlier this school year. Before Gwyn-Noy, Edwards served as an assistant principal at North Penn High School for two years.
Edwards earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Elementary Education and Special Education from Mansfield University. He then went on to complete his Master’s of Science Professional and Secondary Education/Principal’s Certification Program at East Stroudsburg University in 2015.
Wilson Area School District was home to Edwards from 2006 through 2016 where he served in various roles including middle school special education teacher and team leader; athletic director; and high school special education department chair and teacher. He spent the next two years as the Career Institute of Technology’s Vice Principal and Director of Student Services before landing at North Penn High School in the fall of 2018.
“I want to thank the Gwyn-Nor community of parents, students and staff for all of the support that they have shown me over the past few months as interim principal,” Edwards said. “I am incredibly excited to have the opportunity to continue to form positive relationships with our families, motivate students to be the best versions of themselves, and work with our staff to help them continue to grow in the future. It feels good to permanently be a Gwyn-Nor Gator!”
On behalf of the North Penn School District, we congratulate and welcome Matt Edwards and Dipa Patel Richardson to these new roles and look forward to working with them to best serve our students.
See also:
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