End-of-the-year staff awards from each school building were announced during the April 10 Nettle Creek Schools board meeting.
Awards are voted on by the employees of Nettle Creek School Corporation. Employees are voted on using the Portrait of a Tiger Graduate characteristics. The building-level winners will move into a district pool of award winners that will be announced at an end of year celebration on May 31.
Building-level winners include: Hagerstown Elementary School Teacher of the Year, Amy Dickerson, kindergarten; Hagerstown Jr.-Sr. High School Teacher of the Year, Michelle Hart, eighth grade English; HES Rookie of the Year, Kayla Vinson, third grade; HJSHS Rookie of the Year, Jordan Randall, ninth grade English; Bus Driver of the Year, Sarah Gwin; Maintenance Staff of the Year, Matt Gentry, HJSHS head custodian; HJSHS Support Staff of the Year, Alison King, Communities In Schools coordinator; HES Support Staff of the Year, Cortney Sizemore, media specialist assistant; Cafeteria Staff of the Year, Traci Black, HJSHS cafeteria; and Administrative Assistant of the Year, Sondra Glunt, HES.
HJSHS Principal Joshua Hallett told the school board that 11th grade student scores on the SAT college readiness exam exceeded the state average in both math and English language arts for the first time in at least two years. The local math average increased by nearly 20 points to 478, while ELA scores averaged more than 20 points higher than in 2023, at about 497. State averages were 480 in ELA and 460 in math.
HES Principal Tiffany Hokey noted that 66 children signed up for kindergarten during the recent roundup.
Superintendent Emily Schaeffer also spotlighted other school accomplishments.
She said three students had perfect scores on the IREAD3 test. They are Axton Wright, second grade, and Liam Pinnick and Olivia York, third grade.
Two students, Katelyn Lumpkin and Raylee Glaser, will be participating in “This is the Pitch,” elevator career pitch presentation hosted with the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce this spring.
Nettle Creek is also participating for the first time in the Wayne County Civics Bee for sixth to eighth grade. Students were asked to write an essay on civics. There were over 90 entries and the top 20 in Wayne County will move on to a live round at 6 p.m. Friday at IU East. This is Wayne County’s first time participating in the National Civics Bee program. Representing Nettle Creek are Abby Smith and Gus Golliher.
Personnel changes approved by the board are listed.
Extracurricular volunteers: Alan Campbell, Dan Davis, Dominic Sartain, Patrick Vinson, Kelly Bicknell, baseball; Wally Workman and Ethan Werking, boys golf; Betsy Swimm, Chuck Golliher, Dick Warvel, Matt Beaty, track; Brittney Waggener, Brandon Waggener, JH track; Seth Charles, Clint Moore, Charlie Cones, softball; Whitney Robertson, Chris Diercks, girls tennis.
Departure: Laura Lannan, HES teacher.
The next regular board meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 8, in the LGI room at Hagerstown Elementary School, 299 N. Sycamore St. The public may attend.
A version of this article appeared in the April 17 2024 print edition of the Western Wayne News.