Associate principal for curriculum and instruction Leah Vomhof has been named the new principal of Blue Valley Northwest for the 2024-2025 school year. 

Vomhof said her first reaction to the announcement was realizing the big responsibility at hand.

“[I thought] ‘Oh my gosh, this is like amazing but it’s an overwhelming responsibility,” Vomhof said. “So I was thrilled, overwhelmed and I’m really flattered.”

Vomhof credited her family for all of the love and support they have shown her through this journey. 

“They’ve always been the most supportive,” Vomhof said. “I think it’s a culmination of a lot of years of work and support that they’ve given me at home and the sacrifices [they have] made to just support my career moving forward.”

She said she believes how this opportunity came at the perfect time for her and Northwest combined. 

“For me, the timing is like perfect,” Vomhof said. “If I didn’t think that I could serve Northwest in the best way possible, then I wouldn’t have applied because, at the end of the day, I want what is best for our school.”

Current BVNW Principal David Sharp shared his thoughts on Vomhof stepping into this role next year. 

“First and foremost, I’m extremely excited for her, extremely excited for Northwest, and extremely excited for the Blue Valley community as well,” Sharp said. “She’s an outstanding administrator. She’s an outstanding human being. Her academic acumen is second to none.”

BVNW Science Department Chair and Chemistry Teacher Nanet Sula expressed her excitement about Vomhof’s new position as well.  

“She’s very knowledgeable in curriculum. She’s probably the best curriculum instruction vice principal we’ve had since we opened, in 31 years,” Sula said. “She just knows the ins and outs of learning and instruction and how students learn and how to help teachers better help students learn. She’s very personable, and I’m excited.”

Figuring out how to continue the high achievement of Northwest students is something that Vomhof hopes to do next year as the new principal, according to her. 

“I think that we have a really strong foundation of student achievement, like high ACT scores, high AP scores, high state assessment scores. And so how do we continue that forward momentum?” Vomhof said.

Similarly, Sula said she hopes Vomhof continues with the current initiatives in place to improve the overall quality of Northwest. 

“I think I would like her to continue what we started,” Sula said. “We have started some initiatives on improving test scores, and just the way the school has run with our new administration in the last two years, so I hope she just continues that.”

The first year of a Building Principal is very different than most years, according to Sharp, but he believes Vomhof will navigate the challenges to the best of her ability.

“Year one as the Building Principle is a little bit different,” Sharp said. “I hope she accomplishes all of the goals that she and her team set out to [achieve], with the department chairs, the students, the staff and everybody. But the one thing [I hope for her] is to continue to build upon the high-quality relationships that she’s already built with students.”

Vomhof said that the most important job of the staff is navigating the ways to support students in their learning. 

“That’s our purpose, right? Like, that’s why we’re here,” Vomhof said.

Along with that, she said how Northwest has a lot to offer right now in terms of athletics, activities and more, and she hopes to keep the high status of Northwest going as principal. 

 “All the other things that come with that in terms of our athletics and our activities, our environment that makes kids want to be here, all of that contributes to high expectations and high student achievement,” Vomhof said. “So I think working together to continue the really strong history and foundation that we have here [and] to continue for our students to achieve those really high levels.”

One thing that Vomhof said might need to be more addressed by the administration is the absence policy at Northwest. 

“Something that we might need to look at is chronic absenteeism, [which is] not just being absent a couple of times,” Vomhof said.  “We may have to work on a plan to address that more systematically, and that would fall into the student achievement bucket because there is a direct correlation between attendance at school and grades.”

The role of associate principal for curriculum and instruction has not been filled yet, and the school board will most likely vote on that position during the next upcoming school board meeting, according to Vomhof.