By Mitchell Copeland

As fall slowly creeps up on us, students and teachers alike are falling back into their yearly school routine. However, there are still plenty of new faces on campus, such as our new assistant principal, Mr. Brendler. Brendler moved to Lancaster from Texas, where he spent the past eight years working as a music teacher and school administrator. 

Though from Texas, Brendler isn’t a complete stranger to the East coast, seeing as he grew up and went to school in Seaside Park, New Jersey and his spouse was raised and schooled in Lancaster county—his grandmother is actually a McCaskey Alum! 

Brendler spent the last six years opening up a new independent school in Fort Worth Texas that focuses on the performing arts and STEM programs. With his experience as a music teacher, Brendler oversaw the performing arts program as an administrator, so he’s definitely fit to oversee McCaskey’s  department. In addition to the arts department, Brendler also manages the math department at both East and JP.

 So what does his daily schedule look like? Well, it’s never really the same thing everyday: “[it’s] lots of triage, I like to tell folks it’s like drinking from a fire hose.”  Brendler doesn’t necessarily do the same thing every day over and over again, remarking, “I do whatever the school needs.” Which often means he’s in between buildings and running around to make sure our school is running like a well-oiled machine.

As our friends at the WMCC love to ask, “Why McCaskey?” What is so special about our school that draws in experienced teachers and administrators such as Mr. Brendler? Brendler told me that the moment he knew he found the right place was when he asked Dr. Reese, “Are you all in on AP or all in on IB?” and Reese responded, “I’m all in for our students.”

Brendler told me he was drawn in by the diversity of our programs as well as our students. McCaskey’s vibrant, multicultural student body combined with the “sheer breadth of offerings” of our programs creates a learning environment like no other. He took note of our teachers’ pure dedication to their students. 

Mr. Brendler is an insightful, thoughtful, and very quotable member of our administration. Though new to McCaskey, he seems to be excited to be a part of the community. So if you see him running around make sure to be friendly and give him a warm welcome!If you have any questions or need to reach out to Mr. Brendler, please send him an email at timothybrendler@sdlancaster.org.