Newbury Local School District may be small, but there is plenty going on to keep its new superintendent Michelle Mrakovich busy.Hired as high school principal…
Newbury Local School District may be small, but there is plenty going on to keep its new superintendent Michelle Mrakovich busy.
Hired as high school principal two years ago, the board of education chose her to replace Richard Wagner who retired the end of December.
Although she is on the consolidation committee headed by Kent State University Geauga Interim Dean Jarrod Tudor, Mrakovich is working toward goals in the more immediate future.
“We can’t put all our eggs in one basket,” she said during a recent interview. “There are a lot of hurdles. If (the consolidation) doesn’t happen, we have to be thinking outside the box.”
At a minimum, consolidating New-bury, Cardinal, Ledgemont and Berk-shire school districts would take five years and include securing funding for and construction of a central high school near the KSU Geauga campus.
“We’re not closing that door, but we realize it’s a long process,” Mrakovich said.
Meanwhile, among the daily hubbub of the administration office and learning the ropes, she is hoping to work with neighboring schools in the realms of
professional development, sharing services with other districts and helping Newbury students find ways to expand their academic opportunities.
“Our teachers are singletons,” Mrakovich said, so the math teacher, for instance, doesn’t have another math teacher with whom to share ideas and strategies. Collaborating with other districts’ teachers in professional development on a regular basis would be a lot of help, she said, but scheduling is a challenge.
Newbury, one of the few one-township school districts left in Ohio, has a shrinking student population and minimal state funding. Providing courses beyond basic requirements is difficult, but Mrakovich wants to work with other districts and possibly arrange distance learning classes to give Newbury students an expanded curriculum, she said
Collaborating on school calendars and class schedules between districts could make it possible, she said.
Common planning, shared ideas, and collaborative action plans could be a benefit for students as well as schools, making education more flexible in the region, Mrakovich said.
Besides money, making changes takes open minds and good communication, she said. That means keeping the public informed on various fronts.
Knightlines, a publication the school used to mail to residences, may be re-designed and revived, she said. The school website and Facebook page are popular and help disseminate information, she said. At last count, the junior-senior high school Facebook had 405 followers, including a lot of parents, Mrakovich said.
Face-to-face contact can be a valuable information-sharing tool, she said, adding she started having breakfast at DS Bakery at Newbury Center from 8-9:30 a.m. Fridays.
The first such event happened in last Friday’s snowstorm when school had been cancelled. Mrakovich said she was pleased that a handful of residents came by to share coffee and conversation.
Last year weather caused an abundance of days off so, on her recommendation, the school board approved a two-hour delay option at the last board meeting, she said. Scheduling of transportation, class lengths, bells and other connected details are ongoing.
Meanwhile, Mrakovich is still acting principal of the high school, which could potentially cause a conflict in the discipline appeals process, so the board also approved the hiring of an assistant superintendent, Mrakovich said. Wagner will be assisting several days a week as needed on a six-month contract helping her transition into the superintendent’s position and taking care of the disciplinary duties, she said. A posting for the high school principal’s position is in the making.
