BY TRACY LEE TATE
Times Editor
It’s almost that time again, when students will return to school for a new year of learning, social development and achievements. Union County Superintendent of Schools Mike Ripplinger said that everything is in place and ready to hit the ground running for the 2022-23 school year and that all of the faculty and staff of the schools in the district are enthusiastic about the possibilities for the year ahead.
As in every year, there will be some changes in the coming year. School officially starts on August 10, 2022. There have been some changes in the administration at Lake Butler Elementary School and Lake Butler Middle School, but all are familiar faces, just assuming new positions.
At LBES, former assistant principal Emilee Mecusker will assume the principal’s position. The assistant principal’s position will be filled by Julie Ricketson, who has worked in the district for some time as a teacher, a reading coach and, last year, a career specialist.
Former LBES Principal Marcie Tucker will take the reins at LBMS as principal – replacing Angel Thomas, who has chosen to step away from administration and return to the classroom to allow her to have more time to devote to her family.
There are no administrative changes at Union County High School, with Principal Julie Denson and Assistant Principal Zeke Scaff beginning their second year as the administrative team at UCHS.
There will be about 26 new teachers on the campuses this year, with only about two positions left to be filled, but there are numerous candidates for these positions.
“We have seen more applications per position than we are used to,” Ripplinger said. “These applications are for both instructional and non-instructional positions and they are coming from all over. Some are local, while a few others are from out-of-state and want to come here to teach.”
Ripplinger noted that the district is improving new teacher support (Category 1 teachers in their first three years in the classroom), including the mentoring program where new teachers are assigned mentors with classroom experience.
“There are so many more demands on teachers than there were 30 years ago, or even 10 years ago,” Ripplinger said. “The social and emotional aspects of the teaching profession have changed a great deal and are more demanding on the teachers. Many of them are coming into teaching from other professions and we are seeing fewer “classically trained” teachers now, as they are migrating into teaching from out of the workforce. We want to make sure all of our new teachers acclimate to their positions and grow to be happy here because we hope they will all make a career here in Union County.”
The transportation and food service are fully staffed and eagerly awaiting their first day. There will still be some teachers driving buses this year and Ripplinger said he felt that this would always be the case.
“We don’t get as many applicants for bus driving positions. “Fortunately, we have teachers who are willing to take on the extra responsibility be a bus driver. We have not had any problems with this and it keeps the buses running.”
School security is still high, especially in light of recent events in our country. Matthew Elixson is the new School Safety Officer, replacing Steve Hoard, who retired near the end of last school year. He was trained by Hoard for the position and is ready to go, making sure Union County students are as safe as possible at all times.
State mandated assessment is changing as well, with new assessments taking place more often but, in less time, – changes include two progress monitoring assessments In the fall and winter along with the normal spring assessments. This will help students and teachers better understand the progress being made during the year and make adjustments to instructional delivery to help fill gaps in learning.
“For years progress monitoring has been required by the state at the local level, two or three times per year, depending on the grade level,” Ripplinger said. “in English and Math courses tested by the state, the progress monitoring will now be done through the state. We can expect quicker reporting of results with the new assessments. The upcoming year is the baseline year for this new program, with data collected and scores issued and analyzed, but there will be no penalties in this first year. The following years will be ‘for keeps’ with school grades counting.”
Students will still take End-of-Course exams (EOC) in 5th and 8th grade science, 7th grade Civics, U.S. History, Geometry and Algebra I, with math and English moving to progress monitoring.
A new program, started last year, the enhanced Career Technical Education Program and UCHS will continue in the coming year, offering students a chance to try out career ideas in fields such as law enforcement, technology, business and agriculture, and nursing. Sadly, Ripplinger said the carpentry program would not be offered this year due to problems finding an instructor for the classes.
Ripplinger said that the district is planning on building on last year’s many successes as well as working to create new ones.
“Our District grade is still a B, LBES is an A school for another year, LBMS is still a C, but its score was six percentage points higher and closer to a B. UCHS maintained a B, but was higher then last year, missing an A grade by only 1.5 percentage points. Enrollment in on par with last year and we hope a repeat or improvement on last year, when enrollment stayed remarkably level at all three schools, which I feel is an expression of people’s confidence in our schools.”
Other successes noted were four UCHS FFA teams earning state championships (and set to compete at the national level in Oct. 2022), the JROTC competing and doing very well at national competition. The Band program also continued to excel and grow at LBMS and UCHS.
Ripplinger said the funding for the district is “looking good,” and said that he felt the investment the district was making in increasing teachers and staff salaries was already paying off (beginning teacher salary jumped from $41,350 to $46,000 and the hourly wage from $10.25 to $15.25).
All of the student athletes and faculty are very excited about the upcoming season and there have been many successes there as well. The first football game will be the Kickoff Classic on Aug. 19 in Baker County, starting at 7:30 p.m., with the first regular season game set for August 26 at Jacksonville and the first home game, facing Columbia County, on Sept. 2.
Ripplinger added that the district is ready to switch to virtual teaching if made necessary for health issues but added that everyone in the school district hoped that the measure would not be necessary. He added that the schools were still working with the Union County Health Department and following the guidelines recommended by them.
“After two years of facing many challenges the Union County School District is poised to move forward and reach levels of success higher than we have seen in the past couple of years,” Ripplinger said. “Morale is high and there is an eagerness and energy to get the new year started and show the community and the state what we are capable of doing. There has been such an outpouring of support from local businesses and organizations for both the students and the staff; it has been amazing. This has helped build the anticipation all are feeling for the coming year.”
