New Teachers Get Acclimated to Westerville City Schools

8/10/2012

Administrators, in a show of support and welcome, surround new teachers in the Westerville City School District during opening orientation exercises.

More than 60 teachers who are new to the Westerville City School District gathered in the Media Center at Westerville Central High School on August 9 and 10 for an orientation session hosted by the Office of Human Resources.

They were greeted by members of the Board of Education and Superintendent Dan Good, who talked about the district’s vision of becoming the benchmark of excellence. He said the evidence is overwhelmingly conclusive that Westerville City Schools attains higher levels of student achievement every year. For each of the past five years its performance index has increased, and he said he anticipates Westerville’s highest rating ever when the 2011-2012 results are released later this month. “Not only have we consistently demonstrated annual improvement against our academic goals, but we’ve done so at one of the lowest costs-per-pupil in Central Ohio,” he said. “We take fiscal stewardship very seriously – in fact, last year alone, we realized nearly $5M in cost avoidance and savings as a result of the prudent practices of our professionals.”

Dr. Good concluded by expressing his appreciation to the new employees for “applying to join our dynamic team,” and he thanked them, in advance, for their dedication to the district’s mission of preparing students for the competitive and changing world in which we live.

The group also heard from Karen McClellan, Chief Academic Officer; Curt Jackowski, Executive Director of Human Resources/Labor Relations; Barbara Wallace, Executive Director of Pupil Services/Special Education; and Suzanne Palmer, Coordinator, Gifted and Talented and ESL Services. In addition, they received information about technology services, payroll and benefits, health insurance, an employee assistance program, PowerTeacher, Eduphoria, the MyEdPortal, and the Westerville Education Association Master Contract. Retired Principal Joy Rose presented a history of the Westerville City School District.