Martin Public Schools is undergoing a reorganization of staff and adminsitrators to commence the 2022-23 academic year.
Supt. Brooke Ballee-Stone explained, “We have a couple more positions to fill due to our Pre-K through 12th grades re-organization and re-structuring. Martin Public Schools will be moving to a more inclusive administration model for the 2022/2023 school year. We are a small school with huge community support, so we wanted our district structure to reflect more of that ‘hometown family and inclusive atmosphere’ that Martin is so well known for.”
The superintendent outlined the newcomers and changes thusly:
• Kayla Pagano comes from Battle Creek Public Schools and will be Martin’s new 31n (Social/Emotional Learning) Counselor. “We are very excited to have her be a full-time counselor for our general education population K-12 and working with our students who need that extra adult to talk to around needing social and emotional well-being assistance,” said Ballee-Stone.
• Danielle Whitaker comes by way of Delton-Kellogg Public Schools, where she was previously a special education teacher pursuing her special education supervisor certification. She will be supervisor of special education services (overseeing all such teachers and students in the district).
• Jason Davis will join Brandon Elementary, teaching fourth and fifth grades, primarily social studies.
• Shelby Finney will be Title I interventionist and instructional coach at the elementary level, coming with many years of experience from outside of Michigan.
• Candance Laybourn Morris comes from Grand Rapids, where she taught science and will be teaching middle school integrated science in seventh and eighth grades.
• Jessica Lonsway will be new halftime “Music in Motion” teacher for pre-school through third grades. Her mother is currently teaching third grade (Mrs. Mrs. Glessner). Martin’s music program 6-12 will be adding choir this year, along with the current middle school and high school band program.
• Noelle Oman, who was going to go into law and, but decided to go into teaching instead in English/English Language Arts at Martin Middle/High School.
• Mitchell Gabrielle started at Martin in May and comes from Grand Haven Public Schools. He is the athletic director, and Ballee-Stone said, “has hit the ground running! He is a very positive force already in the district.”
• Rebecca (Becca) Lynema, our current Brandon Elementary Principal will now be the Martin Public Schools Pre-K through 12th grade principal. “Becca lives in Martin and eats, sleeps and breathes Martin Public Schools,” the superintendent said.
She will have two assistant principals: Brad Moelker, 6-12 assistant principal and Kate Malinov, P-5 assistant principal. Moelker is currently boys’ varsity basketball coach and spent the past partial year as Clipper Connections Coordinator. He comes from Wayland where he taught middle school math.
Moelker’s wife, Stacie, is currently superintendent/school board administrative assistant at Martin, who has been at Brandon Elementary the past few years as the 4th/5th math teacher.