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WELLSVILLE -- Wellsville Schools faculty members recently shared year-end stats from the 2025-2026 school year and plans for the 2026-2027 school year with school board members.
Kevin Parkin, newly hired principal at the jr. sr. high school, said that while there are no students of the month yet, he has had the pleasure of meeting students who are busy working hard in the marching band.
He said instructional priorities for the coming school year are to see student growth through NWEA and OST while building goals for the next two years include NWEA/ELA to have 37% of all students in grades seventh through 12th meet their projected growth target indicated by the spring, MWEA MAP Reading assessment by the end of the 2028 school year, and Math have 43% of the students meet their projected growth target by the end of the 2028 school year.
For OST, the priority is to have each grade tested increase the percentage of students scoring proficient or higher on the OST by a least five points over the 2025 baseline by the end of the 2028 school year.
With school not in progress yet, there is no attendance percentage to give, but Parkin noted there are 245 students enrolled for the jr. sr. high.
Parkin expressed his thanks for the staffing team and said he could not say enough good things about them and noted they have been busy getting the building ready for staff and students, making sure the administrative staff have everything they need, ensuring all schedules are ready for the students, resolving any technology issues and making sure the staff has access to the Progressbook Suite.
Aug. 26 is opening day for students.
"All staff will be prepared to welcome students, and procedures will be communicated effectively for a smooth opening day transition," Parkin said. "All staff positions are filled, and teachers have been coming to work and getting prepared for the upcoming school year."
Daw Elementary School Principal Erin Clemmer provided the board with an academic update for the end of school year 2025-2026 in which she said there was strong math growth, but work is still needed for the reaching achievement, and while reading growth is steady, it needs to be a focus achievement according to NWEA data.
Clemmer said that at the end of school year 2025-2026 Ohio State Testing showed fourth grade has a clear strength in math and reading while the third grade showed a clear strength in math.
Shelbie Householder, principal at Garfield Elementary School, told the board that the all-day preschool program is currently filled, but there are still spots available for the AM/PM program, and they are accepting enrollments.
Garfield's Smart Start Week, which Householder described as being similar to summer school, had between 30 to 40 students each day, with kindergarten through first grade students using the time to meet other students and teachers while getting acclimated to the school.
Householder said the focus for the2026-2027 school year will be on continuing to strengthen the Tier 1 instruction with an "emphasis on explicit instruction, strong foundational literacy and math practices and using student data to respond quickly when additional support is needed."
Garfield will be working again with the ReadOhio coach and Allison Scott in her new role as curriculum director, which will allow the school to tweak their academic focus as the year progresses and allow for academic coaching for teachers, Householder said.
The school's math program has been updated from the 2017 edition to the 2025 edition.
Garfield also saw a decline in their chronic absenteeism rate, which was at 38.9% for the 2024-2025 school year and at 27.8% for the 2025-2026 school year. Householder noted that attendance will continue to be a major focus starting with the first day of school.
Household told board members that the school is excited to branch out and create their own PTO and have received great feedback on families willing to participate, and she is grateful for the various organizations who have already donated this year.
"As we begin another school year, I'm most excited about the opportunity to build on the momentum we created last year. We saw so much growth at Garfield -- not only academically, but in attendance, family involvement, and the overall culture of our building," Householder said. "I'm incredibly proud of the work our staff has done and the sense of ownership they have in making Garfield a great place for our students."
Scott told the board members a Teaching and Learning Guidebook has been created to outline the approved curriculum, assessments, expectations and professional development for all teaching staff.
New kindergarten through eighth grade English language arts standards have been released and teachers have been notified of the changes.
A strategic plan has been developed which will include community, family, student and staff survey data, district level data, goals and action plans for the next two academic years and will serve as a road map for academic and climate improvement for all the district staff, Scott said.
Scott also said that the district has partnered with the ESC of Eastern Ohio, ReadOhio and State Support Team 5 to prepare a professional development plan for the first two opening days where staff can attend a variety of informational sessions including a deep dive into the State Report Card. The district plans to build upon the professional development plan and seek improvements throughout the district with future professional development days.
"The building principals have been working extremely hard and collaboratively to lift a lot of these projects off the ground," Scott said. "Their work is commendable and their commitment to the district has been evident throughout these first few weeks of August."