Educator brings a variety of experiences to new role

Vlahos now assistant principal of Tippecanoe High School.
Leah Vlahos talks with students at Tippecanoe High School. Vlahos is the new assistant principal at the Miami County high school. Contributed

Leah Vlahos talks with students at Tippecanoe High School. Vlahos is the new assistant principal at the Miami County high school. Contributed

TIPP CITY – A career in education was a natural for Leah Vlahos.

“I am a third-generation educator. The reason I went into education was because my parents were teachers, and my grandfather was a dean of a college,” she said. “I watched them, and I admired what they did.”

Her father taught special education for 40 years and was her basketball coach; her mother is a senior lecturer in English at the University of Toledo; and her grandfather was an English professor and dean at Defiance College.

Vlahos brings a variety of her own experiences to her new role as assistant principal of Tippecanoe High School.

In this position, she is responsible for evaluating teachers and helping them become the best they can be through that process. She also handles student discipline. “I work with students to help them be the best person that they can be. I feel like, somewhat, I help that relationship between students and teachers,” she said.

Vlahos is no stranger to the Dayton area. She worked in the Springfield City Schools from 2015 to 2021 and then with the Trotwood Madison Schools from 2021 until coming to Tipp City.

She applied for the Tipp City assistant principal job to return to the daily environment of a school building. “I chose to come here because I missed a building, being with teachers and students. I was excited to be back in the place of a building where I was constantly moving and getting to interact with people on a more every day educational basis,” she said.

A native of northwest Ohio, Vlahos graduated from Perrysburg High School before heading to upstate New York to attend Elmira College. She graduated in 2003 with an English major, degrees in English and elementary education and a pre-k-12 teacher certification. She did student teaching in Paris and Glascow, Scotland.

Her first job was teaching English and French in Stevensville, Md., where she also coached girls’ basketball. After 11 years, she returned to Ohio, teaching eighth-grade science and again serving as basketball coach for one year in the Vermilion schools near Sandusky.

She went to the Springfield schools in 2015 to focus again on English, working as an instructional coach inside the classroom with both teachers and students.

In 2021, she moved to the Trotwood Madison Schools as secondary curriculum coordinator.

Vlahos lives in Centerville with her 10-year-old son. She enjoys running, pursing physical fitness and reading.

Contact this contributing writer at nancykburr@aol.com

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