Steenrod Elementary School in Ohio County Named West Virginia School of Excellence
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WHEELING -- Staff and parents work together to set high expectations for students at Steenrod Elementary School, and those efforts have paid dividends as the West Virginia Department of Education has named the school a "school of excellence" for the third time in the past five years.
Prinicipal Michelle Dietrich and teachers at Steenrod traveled to Charleston Wednesday night to accept the award.
Steenrod previously was honored as a school of excellence in 2011-12, and in 2015-16. Both earlier designations came under the watch of former Principal Dan Coram, who retired at the end of the 2015 school year.
The 2016-17 award comes following the first year on the job for Dietrich.
The West Virginia Department of Education deems "schools of excellence" as those that "offer rigorous, challenging instructional academics," according to information provided by the agency. The schools are staffed with "master teachers and exceptional adults who subscribe to the ideas of lifelong learning and excellence in the profession" and "have learning-centered environments that support all students in surpassing their potential."
The schools also achieve standardized testing results "significantly above the average for comparable schools." Students at Steenrod consistently score near the top in the state when it comes to these test scores.
"It's hard to answer why we're so successful," Dietrich said. "I've been in other schools in the county with great teachers and families. But there's a standard of high expectations at Steenrod, and we set the bar high.
"It puts us in a unique position. … There is a lot of parental support here, and the parents have high expectations for their children," Dietrich continued. "They tell the children they are going to work at school, and that they should do the best they can. I think that's why we're consistently among the top schools."
Last year, just nine of West Virginia's public schools across the state were classified as "schools of excellence," and Steenrod was the only one listed from the Northern Panhandle. A full list of this year's winners is not yet available from the Department of Education.
Dietrich was permitted to invite as many as six members of her staff to attend the reception at the Embassy Suites in downtown Charleston, and four teachers accompanied her: media specialist Missy Fritter, fourth-grade teachers Jenna Daugherty and Heidi Hohman and fifth-grade teacher Ann Railing.
The teachers left immediately after school on Wednesday to take the three-hour drive to Charleston, and they arrived back in Wheeling at about midnight, according to Dietrich. Other local educators attending the reception were Ohio County Teacher of the Year Erica Alexander of Triadelphia Middle School, Superintendent Kim Miller and Assistant Superintendent Rick Jones.
Music students from John Marshall High School also performed during the reception.