Hello SMS Families! I appreciate everyone's patience while we have been interviewing and strategically planning to create the best possible learning opportunities for the 2025-26 school year. Once again, we are proud of the talented staff we have gathered for our children. As I explain the plan, you will see, that we have not only have some new personnel joining the team, but we will also be moving some of our current staff to other positions in order to best serve our students.
Preschool- We are happy to announce that Mrs. Kylie Bradley will return as our preschool teacher. Joining Mrs. Kylie is Mrs. Davana Smith. Davana has been an educational aide for many years, and has lots of experience. She has also subbed at SMS for the past two years and volunteered for longer than that. She will be helping out in our primary grades as well. Welcome Davana! Mrs. Betty will still be with us, however she is moving to a part time role, teaching Preschool and Kindergarten religion.
Kindergarten- Our new Kindergarten Teacher for the 25-26 school year is Mrs. Lindsey Earhart. Mrs. Earhart has been with us at SMS for the past two school years, and taught Kindergarten with Mrs. Miller the 2023-24 school year. We are also happy to announce that Mrs. Misti Craig will be officially joining the staff next year as the kindergarten aide. Mrs. Craig volunteered in kindergarten this year, has a Master's degree in Education, and was an early elementary teacher in Kentucky for 22 years. We are blessed to have such a great team for our kindergarten friends!
First Grade- Joining our First Grade team this year is Ms. Shauna Wilson. Ms. Wilson has taught for 34 years including 22 years of first grade, 4 years of second grade, one year of kindergarten, two years of transition, as well as teaching reading recovery and Title I. She most recently earned her teaching/practitioner certification as an Orton Gillingham teacher, specializing in teaching reading to first graders for the past three years. Ms. Wilson is retiring from Bethel Tate this year, and we are blessed to have her at SMS! We are also happy to announce that Mrs. T will be returning as well, to help our First and Second grade friends one on one, and in small groups.
Second Grade- Miss Kacy is going to move back to where she began her teaching career! She will be the Second Grade homeroom teacher, and teach math, science and social studies to the Second Grade. Joining Miss Kacy, and teaching Second Grade ELA is Mrs. Dannielle Williams. Mrs. Williams is from Fayetteville, recently earning her Bachelor's Degree, and is currently working on her Master's Degree in Elementary Education. Mrs. Williams has been a substitute teacher and one on one educational aide, primarily working at Hamersville Elementary. We are excited to have Mrs. Williams join the SMS family, teaming up with Mrs. Kacy for our Second Graders!
Third and Fourth Grade- We are happy to announce Mrs. Moon will return as the Third and Fourth grade English/Language Arts and Reading teacher. Joining Mrs. Moon, teaching math and science to the Third and Fourth Grades will be our own Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde started at SMS teaching second grade, and has been teaching Math in the older grades over the past few years. This year, Mr. Hyde continued to teach math, but also worked with students in one on one, and small groups, and was a major contributor to our MTSS program.
Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Grade- In addition to teaching violin and Latin in small groups, Mr. Pedigo will be the English/Language Arts teacher for 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. He will also teach social studies to grades five through eight. Mrs. Hamilton who has done an outstanding job as our science teacher, will move to help our Fifth and Sixth Grade students with math. Mrs. Hamilton taught math for many years, when she was a full time teacher at Hamersville. Mrs. Chloe will teach Fifth Grade English / Language Arts, and Seventh Grade Math as she impressively did this year, as well as team up with Mr. Pedigo for 6th grade ELA and with Mrs. Hamilton for 6th Grade math. She will also continue to work one on one and in small groups as needed and within our MTSS team. I will continue to teach Algebra I to our 8th graders seeking a high school credit. This means we are still currently seeking a science teacher for grades 5/6 and 7/8.
Religion Team- Mrs. Ernst and Mrs. Burrows will team up to teach religion to grades 1-8. Father Amberger will help particularly with grades 5-8. This team will also collaborate to enrich our program in things like Sacrament preparation, Mass, Adoration, and other youth ministries, and as mentioned above, Mrs. Betty will be working with our Preschool and Kindergarten in faith formation.
Fine Arts- We are happy to announce that Mrs. Heller will return as our Art teacher, sharing her talents with grades K-8. Our music team remains intact with Mrs. Groh's vocal music for grades P-8, as well as Mrs. Kokensparger's dulcimer players, SGTMAJ Kokensparger's canjos and Mr. Pedigo's violins. We might even have a few more surprises to be mentioned at a later date...
Intervention Team- Another amazing addition to the SMS next year is our new Intervention Specialist Mary Hatfield. Mrs. Hatfield has been working in education for 35 years. She worked as an educational aide at Felicity, and after earning her Bachelor's Degree in special education, became an Intervention Specialist for New Richmond Schools. For the past eight years, she has worked as a reading specialist. Also remaining with our staff working part time as our MTSS coordinator as well as working with students is Mrs. Christine Fetters. Mrs. Fetters will also be working with Mrs. K with testing. We will also have some familiar faces helping our students with reading through the Title I program. Mrs. Wallace and Mrs. Pedigo will be with us on a part time basis, giving extra help where needed in literacy.
Also returning for the 25-26 school year is our lunch coordinator, Caitlin Seip. Mrs. Ashton will also be returning as an educational aide helping in grades 3-8. Mrs. Kelly will be back in her familiar takes-care-of-everything position. As you can see, we have been busy, carefully putting together a very strong team that have a lot of talent to offer, but more importantly a great group of people who will love our children, and collaborate with parents to help our children grow academically and spiritually.
I have been waiting for a while to make most of these announcements as there have been twists and turns in the process, and we are still not 100% complete, but I know many of you are wanting to know the plan, so this is where it stands as of today. There will likely be another addition before the school year ends, but I will pass that along when we find the right person for the remaining position.
Again, thank you for your patience, and please welcome our new staff!