NEW KNOXVILLE — New Knoxville Local School District has seen numerous improvements and success stories in the school district in 2016.
Superintendant Kim Watterman has sumitted the following report beginning with facility improvements.
With a significant donation to our weight room, we were able to upgrade our weight room facility with state of the art equipment. A new batting cage for our baseball teams was completed. We traded in and purchased a new school bus. The band purchased approximately $7,600 worth of new instruments and equipment. We went into a new contract agreement with MT Business Technologies, Inc. for copiers. Both gym floors were cleaned, screened, and finished. We changed to RUMKE for our waste and recycling management services. The New Bremen/New Knoxville Rotary donated $8,690 for Science Gizmos.
Professional Development
Professional development for our staff has been centered on the safety of our students with focus on Mental Health. A book study was conducted over the summer on, “A Framework of Understanding Poverty.” We followed the book study up with professional development facilitated by Jen Korte with ACE Academy. Donna Dickman, director of the Partnership for Violence Free Families and Jami Dellefield also from the PVFF presented Youth Mental Health First Aid in December.
New Knoxville School Climate
Great leadership from our teaching staff has energized our teachers as well as bringing enthusiasm to our student body. Rooms were transformed over the summer into teacher inspired themes. “Houses” were formed to promote team unity amongst the student body. Service projects, leadership, teamwork, competition, and working towards smoothing for the better of all are key themes that have come out of this initiative.
Tri Star Career Compact 2.0
All nine of the Tri Star schools voted on a levy to pay for a new facility with OFCC co-paying for academic core space, career technical space and site access allowance. The levy passed and plans are moving forward to build across from the Wright State Lake Campus. Fanning Howey have been chosen as the architectural firm to design the new facility.
Student Achievements
Students at New Knoxville continue to excel academically and in the extracurricular activities they choose to take part in. We have students represented musically in Honors Jazz Band and the band received an Excellent Rating at the District III State competition. Artwork has been accepted in the Ohio Governor’s Youth Art Exhibit, Lima Artspace Kewpee, Kewpee High School Art Showcase, and Wright State Lake Campus Spring Art Show. Jake Blitch was named a National Merit finalist. Devin Kuck received the Entrepreneurship Award for the Business Professionals of America Regional Contest, top 10 in the state. Serna Hostetter was our Franklin B. Walter award recipient as her as well as her Mary Wiest, the teacher that has influenced her the most.
2017
It is always our hope that our current enrollment stays steady or increases. We will be trading in an old bus and purchasing a new school bus. We are always looking for bus drivers to assist in driving routes.
Jerry VanderHorst will be retiring as our athletic director, testing coordinator and health/physical education teacher. He will be completing his 25th year with us. He has been a valuable member of the New Knoxville staff and will be missed. Cathy Doseck will be taking a new treasurer position in Anna. She has put in a lot of time and dedication to our organization. Ted Rupert, our custodial engineer, will be retiring after 29 years of service.
