Sometimes, you just have to sing your own praises.
Unless you’d rather have South Middle School do it for you.
Monongalia County’s Board of Education opted for the above two evenings ago at the school on Mississippi Street.
The BOE convened in the school auditorium Tuesday night for an overdue ceremony.
With students from South Middle’s acclaimed orchestra, choir and jazz band providing the soundtrack, the board gave part of the meeting to publicly honor the district’s top teachers and service personnel from three years back, when the pandemic hit and such gatherings weren’t possible.
That included Mon Schools’ Service Personnel of the Year for 2020, John Hines of University High School.
And 2020’s Teacher of the Year, Kevin Colistra of Morgantown High.
Skyview Elementary owned 2021, with Ashley Marshall of that school taking home the award for Service Personnel of the Year. Co-worker Abbey Coker was Teacher of the Year for 2021.
Brandi Ammons of Morgantown High, West Virginia’s Family and Consumer Science Teacher of the Year for 2021, was recognized for her state distinction.
So was Chef Brian Covell, who heads the culinary program at the county Technical Education Center. He was recently named the West Virginia ProStart Teacher of the Year for 2022.
Board members also approved rates for the excess schools levy, which was passed overwhelmingly by voters last September.
It traditionally brings in $32 million a year to the district, and is used for extras such as Chromebooks and foreign language offerings such as Mandarin in schools here.
The Class I rate is at 16.75 cents per $100 of assessed value. The Class II rate is 33.50 cents per $100.
Class III and Class IV rates are 67 cents per $100.
The excess levy makes up about 25% of the total operating budget for Mon Schools.
Line items on the levy ledger help pay the salaries of school nurses, while bankrolling all those after-school and summer enrichment programs over the course of the year.
Now more than ever, BOE President Nancy Walker said, levy money in Mon is money well-spent.
“In reality, that’s what funds a lot of the programs,” she said.
TWEET @DominionPostWV
