The Washington School Board heard a report from Youth First Regional Development Officer Jeremy Adams, received donations to the Washington High School FFA, honored three staff members, and approved resignations and personnel appointments at Thursday’s monthly meeting.
Adams told the Board that Youth First has been providing mental health services to Washington students for nearly 10 years. Washington Community Schools partner with Youth First to provide master’s-level social workers in the Washington Schools. Three social workers serve the Washington Schools focusing on student mental health, preventing substance abuse, and maximizing student success. In the past year, Youth First assisted 127 at-risk students through 1,163 individual and family sessions. 75% of those students showed improvement in academics and attendance, with 68% showing disciplinary improvement. Youth First was also involved in 11 crisis interventions. The three Youth First mental health professionals serve all grade levels in the Washington Community Schools, with Megan Hickey at Washington High School, Krissy Melhiser at the Junior High, and Daisy Mata at Washington Primary.
In personnel matters, the School Board accepted resignations from Lorraine Williams as an elementary teacher, Alandas Kamiren Lyford as an elementary aide, Jake Durnil as a high school robotics assistant, and Jordan Bennington as Washington Intermediate Math Bowl coach.
The Board also approved the following appointments: Gisell Bertrand and Shealyn Seikmann as instructional assistants and Rutherford Juedy as a bus driver. The Board also approved Derek Rhoads and William Fleetwood as assistant baseball coaches, Jayden Barley as head girls tennis coach with Larry Cochran as a volunteer assistant, Jacob Stephen as freshman basketball coach, and David Stephen as a volunteer assistant freshman coach. Also, Michelle Tarr was appointed as a high school assistant robotics coach.
The Board also honored three staff members as Staff Members of the Month.
