Wolf Creek Local School District Superintendent Douglas Baldwin discusses the need for transportation supervision at the Ewing School. (Photo by Gwen Sour)

WATERFORD — Wolf Creek Local School District Board of Education met Monday for its regularly scheduled board of education meeting.

During the meeting, they celebrated the Literacy Committee’s success and approved the employment and resignation of individuals for the 2024-2025 school year.

Brad Lanier, the principal of Waterford Elementary School, opened the meeting by sharing the success of the Literacy Committee and the school’s early literacy program.

“The last two years have been the best two years,” said Lanier. “This past year … this was our best year at Waterford Elementary and we’d like to thank the board for investing in our staff and some of the different supports we have.”

The support included Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) Intervention Coordinator Dr. Audra Langerman, Title I Coordinator Joan Smith and District Literacy Coach Teresa Stoops.

According to Stoops, efforts to increase literacy rates and improve literacy scores at the elementary level included direct feedback from the community and a literacy mentorship. The mentorship program had seniors from the high school come to the elementary school to assist in the classroom.

After receiving test scores back from the state, the school has been able to look back at what areas students struggle in and provide programming and support to improve their reading abilities.

“We have become very data-driven,” said Stoops. “We always were looking at [the scores] to see which students needed decoding? Do they need vocabulary? Do they need fluency? Then we’re able to group those students.”

Committee member Shawna Landaker, has a son, Gabriel, who is one of the students who benefitted from the literacy program at Waterford Elementary. According to Landaker, Gabriel is profoundly dyslexic and their family struggled through the IEP process. After a meeting with Lanier, the literacy committee was born.

“I think it was hard, I don’t think it was easy,” said Landaker. “It’s very easy as a parent to just be mad, when you get to be a part of it, you start to understand a little more of the inner workings of it … and I think that we should absolutely celebrate in our success, at this point our school has the highest score that it’s ever had.”

Outside of the committee and as a concerned parent, Landaker is a criminal defense attorney. She also said that her goal is to help people.

“I can tell you that 75% of our prison population can’t read,” she said. “So when I’m trying to help people I’m on the tail end of that and it really becomes clear that if you want to make a change in your community, you start in the school.”

The board approved the hiring of Mary Beth Russell as a Custodian, Rachel Hoover as a Bus/Ewing School Aide, Samantha Franchino as a Van Driver, Whitney Ewing as a Transportation Coordinator and Audra Langerman as the LDC Coordinator.

Alaina McAuley resigned as the Head Volleyball Coach and the board approved the resignation. The board also extended the contract of Douglas Baldwin as superintendent of Wolf Creek Local Schools for the 2024-2025 school year.