GREENVILLE — Welcome to the 2022-2023 school year. We hope everyone had a wonderful summer break. Our administration and staff are eager to begin another year with students, parents, grandparents, and community members. We hope to work with everyone to make this another successful instructional year.

With the beginning of the 2022-2023 year we are happy to be returning to in-person instruction. We are hopeful to maintain in-person instruction throughout the year. The high school Virtual Academy is still available during and after school sessions for special circumstances at the high school level.

The district will continue to order appropriate cleaning supplies and hand sanitizer to maintain a clean learning environment in both our buildings and on buses. We do ask parents and students to continue to monitor student COVID-19 like symptoms and monitor their child’s temperature in the morning before coming to school. Students should not come to school if they are sick with COVID-19 symptoms or have a temperature of over 100 degrees.

Our school system, for the third year, will continue to utilize our districtwide Learning Management System (LMS). The teaching staff and students both have experience using the Canvas Learning Management System. The Canvas LMS can be used for students who are absent from school to monitor their assignments. The Canvas LMS could also be used if we ever had a districtwide quarantine or an extended amount of calamity days beyond the five allowable days.

This fall our district will participate in two Waiver Days, on Sept. 26 and Oct. 24. Both days will be non-instructional days for students and allow for staff professional development. We also look forward to having an outstanding motivational speaker address our middle school and high school students on Sept. 27. We know that they will both enjoy and appreciate his presentation. The staff have had the opportunity to hear him in the past.

Our elementary through 10th grades will continue to participate in Measurement of Academic Progress (MAP) testing to continue throughout the year to keep a close measure on our alignment to end of year required state assessments. We continue for the eighth year with the College Credit Plus program with the majority of our students attending Edison State, Sinclair, and Wright State. We also look forward to continuing with our Career Tech programming at the high school which is consistently well received by our students. Many of these programs continue to be national competition award winners. Last summer our Careers with Children program had several national award winners in the FCCLA competition. The top 10 award winners were:

Kaylie McGreevey – Gold & Third Place Overall – Instructional Video Design

Kate Garber & Emma Howard – Silver – Instructional Video Design

Tessa Fine & Lilly Lowe – Silver – Digital Stories for Change

All 5 students were recognized on stage in San Diego for being in the top 10 nationally overall.

This year Junior Class students will continue to take the required ACT test in the spring of the year.

Our district continues to be on a rotational basis to purchase textbooks and supplemental materials beyond the required College Credit Plus textbook purchases. This year, our district purchased many new English/Language Arts textbook and materials for grades 6-12. Next year we will be purchasing English/Language Arts for grades K-5.

This fall will be the first year for our brand-new state of the art Field House at the stadium. The name for the Field House is the Wayne HealthSports/Orthopedic Associates Greenville Field House. The Field House features a new concession stand, booster room, training room, restrooms (including a family restroom), four locker rooms, two offices for the coaches, as well as electrical, mechanical, and technology spaces. Our community waited a long time for upgrades with concessions and restroom areas.

Our athletes, coaches, and trainers deserve upgraded facilities. The Field House will serve our fall and spring sports well. We thank our community for the support of the Field House and appreciate working with our sponsors and partner, Wayne HealthSports/Orthopedic Associates.

This fall we will continue to contract with the City of Greenville to provide us with three school resource officers. One will continue to be housed at the high school while the other two will be at the K-8 facility.

These SROs will assist us with safety and security, but also provide educational programming. They have done an outstanding job for the district and it is our pleasure to work with the city to staff these positions. We are appreciative to expand the coverage to these SROs covering all school hours. We are also fully implementing our Threat Assessment Teams at the high school and middle school this year.

As we begin a new year, remember to travel slowly on Ohio and Main Street and observe the speed limit when students are present and particularly during drop off and dismissal times at the K-8 complex, as well as, the high school. Always slowdown in the parking lots and follow marked traffic flow to keep everyone safe. At the K-8 complex in front of the building the first row of parking on both sides will be reserved for visitors. Staff members assigned to these buildings will not park in these areas. All visitors must continue to enter Memorial Hall by the side door, next to the parking lot, and be buzzed in for security purposes.

Please join me in welcoming the new employees to the Greenville School District. We look forward to working with each of them in our educational delivery and are glad they have joined the Greenville School District team. The following is the list of new employees:

Memorial Hall (Central Office): Jonie Hackler (Custodian); Vicky Warner (Gifted Coordinator)

High School & Career Tech: Mark Atkinson (NJROTC SNSI Instructor); Tim Cundiff (MD Intervention Specialist); Ryan Eldridge (Social Studies Teacher); Kurt Labig (Med Tech Instructor); Jami Oda (Food Service); Brent Short (Asst. Principal); Tom Warner (Engineering Instructor)

Middle School: Michelle Drees (ED Intervention Specialist); Kaitlin Edwards (6th Grade Math Teacher); Isaac Osterfeld (5th Grade Teacher); Timothy Pratt (7/8 Grade Health Teacher); Aaron Schmitmeyer (5th Grade Math/Science Teacher)

Elementary School: Amanda Bunger (Para Professional); Dorothy Garber (4th Grade Intervention Specialist); Brian Gross (3/4 Grade Intervention Specialist); Jessica Swisher (1st Grade/Reading Recovery Teacher); Brooke Uhlenhake (1st Grade Teacher)

Transportation: Nicole Thorp (Bus Driver)

This summer the district educated 165 students in Summer School. Eighty-three of these students were at the K-8 in early August. Eighty-two students were at the high school in June and early July. This was an effort to continue to work with the state initiative of academic recovery for students. Free transportation and lunches were also available to any Summer School student who elected the service.

This year the Greenville Board of Education and district will continue to improve and provide more mental health services and support. The district will continue two contracts with Recovery and Wellness to provide mental health services. One is mental health counseling available for all needed students with parental permission after a screening if necessary. One day a week coordinated at the high school and the other day at the K-8 complex. This is a completely free program, with parent permission, during the school day. The second contract is for the student support groups for two hours a week. Also, free and during the school day with parent permission. The district will continue to employ a part time social worker for the seventh year as well and keep the increased employee hours at 25 hours a week. This service also is free of charge during the school day with parent permission.

Remember, the entire Greenville School faculty and staff is here to assist you – our students, parents and community. If we can be of assistance, please feel free to contact our principals or myself. I can be reached by phone at 937-548-3185, or by email at [email protected]. Let’s all work together to make 2022-2023 an outstanding school year. Our district wants to focus on being kind, providing hope, and helping our students achieve and overcome obstacles.

We look forward to seeing you all this fall. Go Wave!