St. Marys specialist named state teacher of year

ST. MARYS - Middle school intervention specialist Alison Beougher was recognized on Wednesday by school board members after being named the Ohio VFW Middle School Teacher of the Year.

Beougher, 34, will go on to compete at the national level. If she wins, she could receive a $1,000 award for professional development expenses and a $1,000 award for the middle school. The VFW also names elementary school and high school teachers of the year.

Middle School Principal Mary Miller, who nominated Beougher, said she was thrilled to see her recognized as both as St. Marys teacher of the year and a state teacher of the year. Beougher has been with the middle school for almost a decade and previously had worked at West Intermediate School.

When nominating Beougher, Miller said she'd talked about what a great person Beougher was and how great a fit she was for special education.

"She just has a lot of - and I know people always say this and it sounds trite - but has a lot of patience and a lot of understanding. She truly enjoys working with middle school students in that capacity," Miller said.

Beougher often brags about her students and always has someone about whom she's happy or excited, Miller continued, and the kids can sense how much Beougher enjoys being with them.

As part of her life skills class, Beougher and her students have taken over running the school's food pantry, which helps provide for students with temporary or long-term food needs. Beougher's students take inventory and make sure the pantry is stocked and ready - one of many things Beougher does with her students to help them become good citizens and give back to their community.

"She deals with a lot of high needs and stressful situations, but she's always calm in her demeanor and the kids feed off of that, too. It helps calm them," superintendent Bill Ruane said as he presented Beougher with a resolution honoring her achievement. "We're very lucky at St. Marys City Schools to have you. We thank you for all you do for us."

In other business, Ruane asked people to contact their local state representatives and protest the inclusion of the EdChoice Scholarship Program in the state's budget, saying it represented an attack on public education.

The EdChoice Scholarship Program gives students vouchers to attend participating privately run schools. Ruane said he wasn't sure how much the program would affect St. Marys City Schools, expressing confidence in the district's performance.

However, he said the program did not give public schools a fair playing field. Money to educate students would be going to private schools that aren't held to the same standards as public schools and have the ability to pick and choose students to boost their performance, Ruane said.

Board member Ronda Shelby agreed the program was not beneficial to public schools.

"We lose in this," she said.

Board members also,

• approved the purchase of an 84-passenger T3FE school bus through the permanent improvement fund for $90,830.

• heard from food services director Nicole Rasmussen that the district's food service would soon see a major switch in computer software. Titan School Solutions software will allow parents to manage student accounts and apply for free and reduced-price lunches online starting next year. The service is completely online, but if the power goes out or the school went offline for another reason, the system would still hold up to seven days of data.

• approved Tri Star referrals for the purchase of a skid loader for $46,603.33 and to allow online purchases of more than $7,500 without prior approval of the advisory and local school boards.

• approved the following donations: $300 from the VFW as a Teacher of the Year award and $50 from Dane and Karen Newlove to sponsor Glitter-N-Gold.

• approved the board's continued membership in the Ohio School Board Association at a cost of $5,706, the OSBA's legal assistance for $250 and the OSBA's virtual transportation supervisor program for $125.

• set the 2020 board of education organizational meeting at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 8. Brian Little was elected to act as president pro tem for the meeting.