A familiar face will be taking the helm at Batesville High School this summer.
Brad Stoneking, currently principal at Batesville Primary School, has been tapped to lead BHS beginning July 1, pending school board approval. He replaces outgoing principal and returns to a building where he already has roots — he served as associate principal there from 2013 to 2015.
For Superintendent Dr. Katy Eastes, the choice came down to more than a résumé.
“What became clear is that we have found a leader who truly reflects what our community values,” she said, pointing to Stoneking’s energy, communication skills, and buy-in on the district’s student-readiness initiative, Bulldog Ready.
Stoneking brings more than two decades of classroom and administrative experience to the job. During his nine years leading Batesville Primary School, he championed a research-backed reading program that helped push Batesville into the ranks of Indiana’s top-performing schools in early literacy. The results earned him Indiana District 10 Elementary Principal of the Year honors in 2022.
The Batesville resident earned his undergraduate degree from Franklin College — where he played football — and later added a master’s degree from the University of Scranton and an education specialist degree from Indiana State University.
The move is a homecoming of sorts, and Stoneking isn’t hiding his emotions about it.
“This transition will be a bittersweet one for me,” he said, adding that he looks forward to reconnecting with students he first knew as young readers at the primary school.
Stoneking and his wife Sarah — a school counselor at Batesville Intermediate School — have two daughters who are both students in the district.
