Donna Talerico laughed – then stopped herself.
“I’m going on here,” the deputy superintendent of Monongalia County Schools said Tuesday afternoon. “I know I’m biased, but that’s because I also know what we do.”
What her employer did this week was get itself named as the “Best School District in West Virginia” by Niche, a market research firm in Pittsburgh that charts the fortunes of such systems nationwide.
Niche uses test scores, socioeconomic data and other factors such as parental involvement in day-to-day activities to chart its rankings.
Morgantown High School and University High were also named the No. 1 and No. 3 high schools in the state by the firm.
Suncrest Middle topped the “Best Of” ranking for middle schools in West Virginia, followed by Mountaineer Middle, which was a close second. South Middle also made the top 10, coming in at No. 7.
North Elementary was also named by Niche as West Virginia’s No. 1 school in the elementary category, which was also swept by the local district.
Cheat Lake Elementary came in at No. 3 in the rankings followed by Ridgedale, Brookhaven and Suncrest, which came in at No. 5, No. 6 and No. 7 on the list.
Mon’s district, as noted by Niche, boasts a 95% graduation rate, with an average ACT score of 26 and 1170 for the SATs.
Talerico, who began her career as an elementary school teacher before advancing to administration and then her current post in the district, was happy to hand out extra credit for the effort.
“We have high expectations for our schools,” she said.
And it’s not just about teachers, she said.
It’s about every district employee in the building, she said, be they administrators, custodians, cafeteria workers or someone else.
“Everybody plays a part,” she said. “We have so many good people. And it’s nice to be validated.”
