With the start of the 2023-24 school year came many changes. Pleasants County Schools experienced quite a bit of movement this year, which affected SMHS.
The most prominent change is that SMHS has a new assistant principal. Mrs. Amanda Mote has been teaching for 22 years, and was previously teaching at Vienna Elementary, Waverly Elementary and SMHS (2007-2018). She has spend the last five years working at the board office and is now returning to her roots. She decide she wanted to be a teacher in second grade. Her reason for choosing this job was she fell in love with working with students with disabilities in college. She said, “I added “After Mr. Mote had his stroke is 2014. I went back and got my master’s in Educational Leadership, never intending to leave the classroom unless I had to. However, when Mrs. Venderlic was retiring, she talked me into applying for the social services, Attendance and Child Nutrition Director’s job. I served that position for five years. When the chance to come back to SMHS opened, I applied for assistant principal and have been blessed enough to return!” She thinks all subjects are important because each teaches you something, which will make you successful.
SMHS was fortunate enough this year to gain an alternative education teach. Mr. Tyler Satterfield moved to SMHS from SMES to take on the new position. He has been teaching for seven years, with past experience at SMES and Waverly Elementary. He decided he wanted to be a teacher his senior year of high school. His reason for choosing this job was because it is a new challenge and he wants to positively impact the youth. He thinks the most important subject is English.
Ms. Donze has been teaching for four years, and was previously teaching at Summersville Middle School and Van Devender Middle School. She taught at SMHS in 2021-22 and has returned to the same position. She decide she wanted to be a teacher in elementary school. Her reason for choosing this job was because she had always liked math. She thinks the most important subject is math or English.
Mrs. VanZile took a counselor position at PCMS, so Mrs. Lacy Riggs moved into her position. She has been teaching for 13 years and was previously teaching at PCMS. She decide she wanted to be a teacher in high school. Her reason for choosing special education is because it “allows [her] to work with smaller groups of students and [she] can provide more one-on-one instruction.” She thinks the most important subject is all of them.
