By Eamon Baird
PIQUA — Area school principals expressed the importance of increasing student and teacher engagement during the Piqua Board of Education meeting on Thursday, Oct. 19.
Heath Butler, principal of Central Intermediate School, challenged teachers to spend an extra five minutes a day to help build the student-teacher relationship.
“We’ve used the phrase, ‘spend time with kids when you don’t have to,’” Butler said.
Piqua High School Principal Rob Messick said the school issued a survey to students and teachers last February about what makes a good class, and both groups agreed that they wanted more engagement.
“This is something that we’re going to need to work on all the time, to look at different ways that we can get our students engaged within the classroom,” Messick said.
The principals also talked about utilizing the “I do, we do, you do” model. In this model, first, an instructor shows how to solve a problem, then group work with students, and finally, individual work by a student. Piqua School aims to use this model to get all area students to perform at their grade level.
In other news, Superintendent Dwayne Thompson introduced Daniele Blevins, executive administrator of the Piqua Education Foundation. Blevins said that a Piqua staff scholarship generated $3,770 all from staff donations.
Also Thursday, the board approved the personnel agenda, which includes Family and Medical Leave (FMLA) for the following staff members: Carly Gray, nurse of Piqua Junior High School, from Dec. 19 for 12 weeks; Paige LeCount, a second-grade teacher at Washington Primary School, starting on Oct. 26 for 12 weeks; Amy Meyer, intervention specialist at Piqua High School, effective Sept. 22; Erin Monnier, a first-grade teacher at Springcreek Primary School, starting on Dec. 5 for six weeks.
The board also approved the following hires: Daniel Langston as a BC-3 custodian and bus driver effective Sept. 21; Elizabeth Henline as a long-term substitute teacher for the 2023-2024 school year. Abby Peepels, as a long-term substitute teacher at Springcreek Primary, for the 2023-2024 school year;
The board also recommended approval for: payment from Wright State University to Katie Motter as a mentoring student teacher; and the supplemental resignation of Pamela George as K-Kids advisor at Washington Primary School, effective Sept. 20.
The next Piqua School Board of Education Meeting will be held on Thursday, Nov. 16.
