UNION CITY — The Mississinawa Valley Local Board of Education met in regular session on Monday, June 26. The following are highlights from the meeting.
After 57 1/2 years of service to the students, parents, staff, and community of Mississinawa Valley Schools Betty Teegarden retired. During her time as Mississinawa Valley Schools, which includes approximately 90 percent of the existence of this district she worked for 18 high school principals, 14 superintendents and saw 3,352 students graduate from Mississinawa Valley High School.
Elementary Report
The district announced the 2022-2023 state testing results:
ELA (English Language Arts) Spring Proficient Percentages – Third Grade – 87 percent; Fourth Grade – 68 percent; Fifth Grade – 62 percent; Sixth Grade – 51 percent
ELA Spring County Placement – Third Grade – third; Fourth Grade – sixth; Fifth Grade – eighth; Sixth Grade – sixth
The third grade ELA Score was higher than Versailles and Ansonia. FM and Arcanum tied with 90 percent.
All of the third grade students passed the Third Grade Reading Guarantee through either the state test or an alternative testing measure.
For fourth grade ELA, the district was one percent lower than Arcanum and Ansonia. When the results are cross referenced with EMIS, due to the students in the county units, they could potentially have a higher percentage than Ansonia and Arcanum.
The third through sixth grade ELA teachers will be working with the elementary principal at the beginning of the school year to strengthen their teaching in reading comprehension. They will create a pacing guide that builds upon the prior year. Once this is completed, they will be working backwards and into the primary grades. They hope this provides consistency for students and a deeper level of comprehension instruction.
Math Spring Proficient Percentages – Third Grade – 74 percent; Fourth Grade – 84 percent; Fifth Grade – 77 percent; Sixth Grade – 54 percent
Math Spring County Placements – Third Grade – n/a; Fourth Grade – sixth; Fifth Grade – third; Sixth Grade – sixth
They are waiting on Ansonia’s third grade math score to see how they compared within the county. Depending on their score, they could be either sixth or seventh in the county.
All of our Math scores were higher than the state average. Fourth grade math scores for the county were extremely high this year. Versailles obtained a 100 percent, while Ansonia, FM and Tri Village were in the 90’s. MV’s 84 percent scored similar to Arcanum’s 88 percent.
Fifth grade math was one percent lower than Tri Village. This could potentially change when the students’ scores are cross referenced with EMIS and tying them with Tri Village.
Science Spring Proficient Percentages – Fifth Grade – 68 percent;
Science Spring County Placements – Fifth Grade – sixth
Junior High/High School Report
Nedi Velasco was the Valedictorian of the Class of 2023.
Ava Stump was the Salutatorian of the Class of 2023.
The Mississinawa Valley High School Class of 2023 earned $60,050 in scholarships locally and $374,250 from non-local sources for a grand total of $434,300 earned in scholarships.
The BPA Administrative Support Team of Mateo Castro Weiss, Hunter Cox, and Conner Hardy finished first in the nation at the Business Professionals of America National Leadership Conference in Anaheim, Calif.
Rachael Philiposian earned a perfect score on Ohio’s State Test in Grade 8 Mathematics.
Mrs. Gwen Bergman was selected by her peers as the Mississinawa Valley Schools Teacher of the Year for the second time in eight years.
The Board graciously accepted a donation in the amount of $1,000 for a scholarship from the American Legion Eck Ary-Douglas Dickey Post #353.
A $3,000 grant from Blackbaud Giving fund on behalf of Casey’s General Stores and its donors was graciously accepted for the H.S. Language Arts Department.
A grant was graciously accepted from the Darke County Endowment for the Arts to the Art Department in the amount of $1,500.
Items approved:
The Board accepted the resignations of Rob Austerman, Kyler Guillozet, Max Guillozet and Michael Trobridge who had 2022-2023 spring co-curricular positions. The student activity programs advisors’ resignations for the 2022-2023 school year were approved. There were 16 positions listed on the agenda.
The 2022-2023 school year staff attendance awards were approved. There are approximately eight classified staff members and six certified staff members who will be receiving the Perfect/Sick Attendance Awards. There are approximately 22 classified staff members and 29 certified staff members who will be receiving the Personal Attendance Awards.
Brooke Mast was approved by the Board as a volunteer with the HS Girls’ Basketball program for the 2023-2024 school year.
The JH and HS Taiko groups were approved by the Board to travel to St. Louis, Mo. for the Japanese Festival Aug. 31-Sept. 3.
The Board approved the following one year classified employee contracts for the 2023-2024 school year:
Sidnie Miller – Para Professional (Elementary) (pending background checks), Kassie Puderbaugh – Para Professional (JH/HS) (pending background checks) and Shellie Stump – Cook.
The Board approved Leslie Doppler (pending background checks) with a one year First Grade Teacher certified contract for the 2023-2024 school year.
The Board approved Shawn Peters with a five-year contract as the Technology Coordinator (shared with Ansonia Local School District) commencing Aug. 1.
The Board approved Nick Hamilton with a five-year contract as the Treasurer (shared with Ansonia Local School District and Newton Local School District) commencing Aug. 1.
Max Kindell was approved by the Board with a two-year contract as the Building and Grounds Supervisor commencing Aug. 1.
MacKenzie Breymier was approved by the Board with a two-year contract as the Athletic Director commencing Aug. 1.
The Board approved, with regret, the following resignations: Aimee Powell as JV Volleyball Coach for the 2023-2024 school year effective June 2; Zach Wisner as a Custodian effective June 30 and MacKenzie Breymier as the high school volleyball site manager for the 2023-2024 school year effective immediately.
The following were approved by the Board with co-curricular contracts for the 2023-2024 school year: Alex Bragg – JV Coach for HS Girls’ Volleyball (pending background checks), MacKenzie Breymier – HS Girls’ Basketball Site Manager, Koryann Elliott – 7th Grade Girls’ Volleyball Coach (pending background checks), Krista Hoggatt – HS Volleyball Site Manager (pending background checks) and Sondra Smith – 8th Grade Girls’ Basketball Coach (pending background checks).
After an executive session, the board emerged and approved an increase the salary/wage for all employees currently covered by the collective bargaining agreements between the board and its respective bargaining units, the Mississinawa Valley Classroom Teachers’ Association and the Mississinawa Valley Classified Employees Association by two percent on the base for the 2023-2024. This increase is in addition to the two percent increase that employees covered by the aforementioned agreements were schedule to receive for 2023-2024.
