Dr. Peter Nicholson (Credit: npenn.org)
Dr. Peter Nicholson's resignation was approved Thursday night by the North Penn School Board in an unanimous vote
Within a span of two weeks, Dr. Peter Nicholson III resigned from one school district and was approved as the new assistant superintendent for another neighboring one.
Effective Jan. 5, 2026, Nicholson will leave Superintendent Dr. Todd Bauer’s Cabinet as North Penn School District’s Administrator for Secondary Education and Renovations and become Perkiomen Valley School District’s Assistant District Superintendent.
Both his outgoing and incoming school districts voted unanimously, on Thursday night and on Nov. 10, respectively.
Nicholson was in attendance at Thursday’s action meeting, as pointed out by Bauer.
“So, it's not typical when you have someone resigning that they are in the room, but I do feel compelled. Dr. Nicholson is standing back there, in the back of the room. When I came to North Penn as high school principal, Dr. Nicholson was an assistant principal and immediately someone I could rely upon. He has served this community as an assistant principal, the high school principal, and most recently as our administrator of secondary ed and renovation,” Bauer said. “We're very sad to lose Pete, but he's going to be the assistant superintendent in Perk Valley, where he will take what he learned here in North Penn and share his talents with the Perk Valley community. So, I'm excited for him to learn with Dr. Russell and to lead that community.”
Bauer congratulated Nicholson on his new position and told him he will be missed.
“We are very grateful for your service,” Bauer said.
At the Perkiomen Valley School Board session, Russell formally introduced Nicholson to the board.
“I am very, very excited for the school district that Dr. Nicholson has agreed to serve the school district. He currently serves as an administrator in a neighboring district, and he is responsible for secondary level programming and also leads the high school and the middle schools in that school district, as well as a major renovation project that the district is undergoing,” she said at the Nov. 10 meeting.
According to his bio on the North Penn website, Nicholson, a Quakertown Community High School and Ursinus College alum, previously served as the principal at North Penn High School for four years, after spending five years as an assistant principal for NPHS. He was hired in October 2013.
Previous to his time at North Penn, he spent 12 years in the Allentown School District where he served as a Health and Physical Education teacher, coached several sports, and was a middle school assistant principal. In 2008, he earned a Master's of Science in Educational Leadership and completed his doctoral degree in Educational Leadership through Wilkes University in 2024.
“He brings a lot of administrative experience to the school district with some leadership style around collaboration, inclusivity, student-centered approaches that I very much appreciate upon getting to know him a little bit,” Russell said. “I really look forward to what the future holds under his leadership.”
Perkiomen Valley School Board President Laura White thanked Nicholson for attending the Nov. 10 session.
“We really cannot look more forward to you getting to work. Thank you very much,” White said.
Most recently, Nicholson helped spearhead the North Penn High School referendum push and the current renovations at the high school and its aquatic center.
A replacement for Nicholson has not been named in the personnel agenda.
“Dr. Nicholson has served the North Penn School District as an assistant principal and principal at North Penn High School and most recently as the administrator of secondary education and renovation, overseeing our five secondary schools. For the last few years, he has been guiding the NPHS project from the instructional lens and helping to guide the transitions throughout the renovation," Bauer said in a statement to North Penn Now prior to the North Penn meeting.
"Dr. Nicholson has served our school community with dignity and with students at the center of all of his work. We are thrilled for him and his family that he was appointed as the next assistant superintendent in Perk Valley, where we know he will continue to make an immense impact. On behalf of NPSD, I want to thank our colleague and friend for his commitment to our community and wish him all the best in this well deserved opportunity,” Bauer said.
Nicholson is the second major cabinet member to announce a resignation from the school district since October: Dr. Michael McKenna, the newly-created district Chief Academic Officer, is resigning in February 2026, as approved at the October board session. His replacement has not yet been announced.
