WVU women’s basketball coach Dawn Plitzuweit was center court for a time during Tuesday night’s meeting of the Monongalia County Board of Education.
Her star-turn came courtesy of video snippets shown of her recent participation in Adam Henkins’ annual professional development sessions for the school district’s athletic coaches – as they ready for their respective seasons for the coming year.
The sessions are a summertime staple presented by Henkins, who directs the district’s divisions of Safe and Supportive Schools and Athletics.
Right now, there are 215 coaches in Mon’s public middle schools and high schools, be they paid employees or volunteers. A big percentage of them got to take in the sessions, and they gave the incoming WVU coach high marks, Henkins said.
“Just tremendous feedback,” he said. “We really appreciate Coach Plitzuweit for coming in.”
Plitzuweit, who was hired in March, is a veteran coach who most recently went 158-36 in six seasons at the University of South Dakota, where her teams netted four NCAA Tournament appearances.
She reminded Mon’s coaches that they are also teachers – and that the wins and losses in the yearbook pale to what a young person does after those playing days are over, be it in college, or, for most athletes, high school.
“For us, it’s about building young ladies,” she said, in one of those video segments.
Her coaching-as-teachable moment metaphors, as said, arrive on the cusp of a school year, which, at least for now, is promising some pre-COVID normalcy.
Mike Kelly, a longtime Board of Education member who is just as enthusiastic for the marching band as he is for the football team in autumn, wondered aloud if this would be the time for Henkins to advance to the next level, in coaching parlance.
That is, what if Henkins introduced a tool where coaches can gauge their own performance and dealings with students – similar to the self-improvement practices Plitzuweit discussed with the district’s athletic leaders?
“That way they can see where they really are,” he said.
Consider it done, Henkins responded.
Same for Superintendent Eddie Campbell Jr.’s annual evaluation by the BOE.
Campbell, who was hired in 2018 after stints in education in China and Alaska, was praised for his marshaling of the district both though the shadows of the pandemic – and the possibilities of school violence here.
“Thank you, board members,” he said.
Meanwhile, Tuesday’s meeting was the final one for outgoing members Sara Amadon and Melanie Baker Rogers, both of whom choose not to seek re-election.
Jennifer Hagerty and Dan Berry, who won the above seats in May’s primary, will be sworn in when the board meets next on July 5. Both are veterans of Mon Schools, having worked as teachers and administrators in the district.
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