The West Shore School District is honored to name the Employees of the Summer Quarter. Below are the nominations submitted for the two staff members named.

I am pleased to nominate Nicole Fenton for Professional Employee of the Summer 2024. During my transition from Assistant Principal to Acting Principal at Allen Middle School, Nicole has stepped up as a student-centered leader who is eager to support Allen Middle School.

Nicole is currently working on her Doctoral Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Wilkes University. This summer in addition to the demands of the doctoral program, she volunteered to work alongside building administration to develop meaningful and targeted professional development for the start of the 2024/2025 school year. While the district works to streamline the use of Schoology, Nicole provided instruction to the teachers at Allen Middle School on how to utilize Schoology to develop executive functioning skills in middle school students, an area of need for many 7th and 8th grade students.

In addition to her contributions to the professional development of her peers, Nicole was instrumental to the planning and implementation of “Hanging with Harrington,” a community event to introduce the new Acting Principal. Nicole scheduled food trucks, publicized the event on social media, came early and stayed late to help set up and tear down the games. She was ready and willing to help in any way she could from setting out traffic cones to creating the music playlist.

Nicole has taken an active role in ensuring vital communication is posted on social media to ensure all students and families are aware of the great things happening at Allen Middle School. She has honed her Canva skills to create clear and concise graphics for Allen’s Instagram, X and Schoology. This has tremendously helped create a welcoming and clear message for Allen families.

Nicole's dedication to Allen Middle School’s students and teachers is evident through all the work she did this summer! It is my pleasure to nominate Nicole Fenton for Employee of the Summer Quarter, 2024. Nicole plays a significant role in helping Allen be a place where students want to learn, parents what to send their kids, and staff what to work!

I would like to nominate Kristene Dormuth for the Support Employee of the Summer Quarter. Kris is a critical part of the District’s transportation operation, largely working behind the scenes. Under normal circumstances, Kris is constantly making calls and identifying creative ways to provide transportation services for students with special transportation needs.

This year was far from normal. The District provides transportation for numerous summer programs, requiring communication and coordination with special education, curriculum, and ELD. With no Supervisor of Transportation to do the planning and routing for summer programs, Kris stepped in without hesitation. From students participating in traditional summer school, to the cool school program, to ESY services for special education, Kris worked tirelessly to make sure children could have access to the programs and supports they needed.

Kris worked long days, and additional time over weekends as needed. In conjunction with First Student, Kris made sure hundreds of students could get to and from school, when and where they needed. Kris didn’t stop with our summer school programs. She recognized the value of the drivers who continued to work over the summer and took time to bake cookies in appreciation of their service.

In July, as Mrs. Rupp arrived in transportation, Kris provided support above and beyond the expectations of her position. She has allowed Mrs. Rupp to come into the position without being overwhelmed by the volume of the operation. Simply put, without Kris Dormuth, our school transportation services would come to a screeching halt. She is a crucial, although often silent, cog in the school transportation machine and worthy of consideration for Support Employee of the Summer Quarter.