Thursday, August 31, 2017

WELCOME TO A NEW YEAR AND SEVERAL NEW FACES

Every new school year is a clean slate.  It is a chance to forge a new path for students, teachers, and indeed the whole school.  This year is no different.  As we said goodbye to another outstanding senior class in May, our eyes quickly turned to the promise of the new year.

There was a lot of change at Winston High School over the summer.  The shell of the new building went up, there were massive utility outages (yes phone, electrical, and water services were all impacted), and there was several teaching positions that turned over.  Mr. Keller, Mr. Hedrick, Mrs. Codding, Ms. Yohn, Ms. Gardner, and Mr. Lasman all bid farewell to Winston.  While they will all be missed, we are pleased to welcome several new faces to the school.

Ms. Jessie O'Dell comes to us from Adair County and will be our new music teacher.  Ms. O'Dell brings with her a wealth of experience and success in class 1 band.  We are excited for her to bring her enthusiasm and fresh ideas to our program, which had experienced much success in recent years.  In addition to her music duties, Ms. O'Dell will also be teaching Spanish classes for us.

Ms. Clara Scott will be taking over our K-12 P.E. program as well as assisting with our Softball program and taking over the reigns of our Girl's Basketball program.  We are anxious to see what great things Ms. Scott will bring to all of the programs she is associated with.

Mr. Brian Sprouse brings years of teaching and coaching with him to Winston High School.  Mr. Sprouse will be teaching 7/8 Math and ELA as well as serving as our districts Activities Director.  Mr. Sprouse will also be coaching Junior High Football in our Cooperative Sponsorship with Maysville.  Mr. Sprouse brings a wealth of life experiences with him from his military service as well as his classroom experience.

We are very pleased to welcome Mrs. Sarah Linthacum to Winston as our new 9-12 ELA teacher.  Mrs. Linthacum brings a year of teaching experience with her, but has taught for many years in the military.  Her organization and work ethic will be very important in her creating a classroom environment to insure success for our students at Winston.

Mr. Justin Simpson will be teaching social studies classes for us at Winston High School.  Mr. Simpson is in his first year of teaching but brings a lot of life experience with him in his previous position at Crossroads.  Mr. Simpson will draw on his previous experience as a collegiate baseball player to help him as he takes over as our new Varsity Softball Coach.

Mrs. Joy Durbin begins her first year as our new K-12 Special Services Teacher.  Mrs. Durbin is taking over for Mrs. James who is moving into a director role for the district.  In addition to her classroom duties, Mrs. Durbin will also serve as our XC coach as well as directing JH girls basketball.

We couldn't be happier to have these individuals at our school.  I would like to take a moment to welcome them all the the Redbird Family, I am sure that you will all discover that they are a great addition.  I look forward to the year ahead, and I expect tremendous things.  After all...It is a Great Day to be a Redbird!