HAMMOND | A veteran Calumet Region educator known for innovation has been chosen to lead the new downtown charter school scheduled to open next summer.

Scott Fech, a former principal at Bishop Noll Institute, was tapped Tuesday to guide the Hammond Academy for Science and Technology by the school's board of directors.

"Scott wowed us," said Kris Costa Sakelaris, president of the Hammond Urban Academy board, which selected Fech from a field of 20 applicants after a year-long search.

"He's very dynamic," Sakelaris said, "And he knows how to make modern technology an integral part of the school environment."

Fech, 42, introduced laptop computers for all students during his six years as Bishop Noll's top administrator, and by his fourth year there saw a 20 percent rise in the school's ISTEP math scores.

"This is like landing a top quarterback for your football team," said Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr., who began preparations to bring a new science academy to the city in 2005.

Fech, a Valparaiso resident and 1985 Bishop Noll graduate, completed his doctorate in educational administration and supervision at Loyola University Chicago this month.

Working on his dissertation, a study of leadership in high-poverty, high-performing schools across the country, opened his eyes to the unlimited possibilities inherent in every student, he said.

"Regardless of their backgrounds, kids can achieve," Fech said Tuesday. "Everyone wants to succeed. It just takes something different for each student -- and our job is to figure out what it is, and provide it."

The academy's curriculum, produced in partnership with Purdue University, is designed to engage students in new ways, Fech said, "the way kids ought to be learning.

"We can't imagine what the future will be like," Fech said, "But we can encourage the development of skills for adapting technology to what students will be doing in the future."

Chartered by Ball State University, the academy will open in August with grades six to nine, and an additional grade will be added each year through grade 12.

Fech's official title of school leader is a combination of both superintendent and principal, said Tom Dabertin, academy board secretary and McDermott's point-person throughout the four-year effort to establish the charter.

"It's also double the work," Dabertin said, "but Scott is one of the brightest, most capable school administrators in the entire Chicago-Northwest Indiana area."

Fech's three-year contract will pay him $110,000 per year -- comparable to the compensation of most other region education supervisors -- but he said it's the challenge that's really got him excited.

"This is our opportunity to create a new climate and a new tradition," he said. "To start fresh with a new building, a new curriculum and a staff that shares the same vision."

Construction of the new $15 million downtown campus at Muenich Court and Ann Avenue is scheduled to start later this year.

While Fech finishes out his current contract as assistant superintendent for personnel with the Grayslake, Ill., Community High School District, he said he'll be working on an online application system to find staff for the new academy -- people "willing to share a vision and roll up their sleeves.

"All decisions have to be made with what's best for the students in mind," Fech said. "Parents and the community all need to be involved.

"It's an exciting adventure," he said. "We're in for the ride of our lives."

A series of public meetings to introduce the community to the new Hammond Academy of Science and Technology and school leader Scott Fech are scheduled for next week:

7 p.m. Monday in the Lost Marsh Golf Course Club House, 1001 129th St.;

7 p.m. Tuesday in the Purdue University Calumet Conference Center, 2300 173rd St.;

7 p.m. Wednesday at the Ophelia Steen Center, 5927 S. Columbia Ave.

For more information, call (219) 937-9516, or hammondacademy.org