New Role, Familiar Settings for Hancock County Superintendent Dawn Petrovich
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NEW CUMBERLAND -- The new school year brings new experiences for students and administration.
The year also brings a new role for Dawn Petrovich, who was named as Hancock County's superintendent of schools on May 28.
"I'm very familiar with the county. I love Hancock County, I think we have the greatest employees, wonderful students, a great community," said Petrovich. "I just thought it was a natural progression for me to continue supporting the staff, families and students, and knowing the pulse and the climate of the county, I think helps me make decisions that are very beneficial and helpful to all. I'm just excited and honored to have been chosen."
Petrovich signed a four-year contract with the board of education, which officially went into effect July 1. Petrovich will be making $120,000 for the 2019-20 school year with her salary increasing each year, ending at $130,800 for the final year of her contract.
Before becoming the superintendent, she worked as the assistant superintendent for the last two Hancock County superintendents, and in her 37-year career she has worked in every school in the district. Petrovich has been the county test coordinator, principal at Broadview Elementary and assistant principal at both Weir Middle School and Allison Elementary.
Petrovich has a bachelor's in elementary education from West Liberty University, and two master's degrees, one in specific learning disabilities and the second in education administration from West Virginia University.
"(As assistant superintendent) I had all of the directors report to me, I did their evaluations, and I was also responsible for doing the principals' evaluations. So in doing that you really have the opportunity to be involved with what everyone is doing, if not involved, at least aware, and with them coming to me and asking me questions or my advice, then I got the opportunity to learn more," said Petrovich. "So when you get to this position, you kind of know all the things that actually go on. And this is a little different because you oversee everything."
During special board of education meeting last week, Petrovich presented the board with a rough draft of the goals she has for the upcoming year. She will have a more detailed draft for the board at the board's next regular meeting.
The goals she has for this year are, in part, inspired by House Bill 206, but they are also areas she wants to continue to grow throughout her term. As discussed in Monday's meeting, Petrovich wants to encourage student growth, learning and achievement, as well as improve student attendance and building safety and security.
"I finished reading House Bill 206 for the first time, and I'm going to have to read it again," said school board member Dan Kaser during Monday's meeting. "I thought to myself, this House Bill 206 is totally going to drive the superintendent goals, because they won't have much time for anything else."
Her plans for student growth and achievement include gathering and analyzing student academic data. She wants to use this data to find ways to better school curriculum.
"If you dig deep into that general sum of assessments you can find all the areas that students are weak in, and I intend to provide that to the teachers, because it will tell you the percentage of students that actually did not know that," Petrovich said. "So I think you can either look to it as 'wow, I didn't know that was tested so much' or 'wow, I have to look at a different way to present that.'"
Currently there is not much the district can do in regards to truancy. Petrovich wants to have the attendance director meet with students and have a meaningful conversation about why they are missing school. This way the district can look into helping the student with any problems keeping them from attending class.
Each school building already has a prevention resource officer on staff, and Petrovich believes the buildings are safe, but she feels improvements can still be made. She and the board talked about setting up a meeting with Sheriff Ralph Fletcher and the PROs to discuss training and ways to increase security at the buildings.
"I think that Hancock County has done one of the best jobs at having our schools secure and having PRO officers, but there are a couple of things, and I've started discussing with some of the principals, some of the things I've noticed as a principal, an employee and as someone who comes to the buildings when they are least expected," said Petrovich.
Michelle Chappell, the board of education president, said they selected Petrovich because of her skill set and experience as an educator.
"She's worked as the assistant superintendent, so she's been elevated from her past roles, and she's been mentored and prepared for this appointment," Chappell said.
Petrovich will also have a state school board appointed mentor, and will be able to reach out to other superintendents to help her navigate her new role.
Chappell hopes that as superintendent Petrovich creates an agenda that fosters student growth and achievement in life skills and academics, in addition to having open communication between the school district, board and community.
"We want to actively engage students academically and in society," said Chappell. "We just want to see students being productive members of society."