Greetings MVCSD Community,

I am delighted by our recent accomplishment of a 79.9% graduation rate, which we announced at the Board of Education meeting last week. This accomplishment, the highest graduation rate we have had in two decades, was made possible by the hard work of all our faculty and staff. I encouraged everyone in the District to “get on the bus” with me last year, and everyone bought in — to the tremendous benefit of our scholars. Thank you to all our faculty and staff for doing your part in making sure our scholars graduate. Let’s continue this momentum and achieve even higher this year!

Schools in the District are beginning to launch their i–Ready learning initiatives for this school year, starting with Pennington School this Monday. This online program has great lessons, which can also be fun for students, that reinforce their learning and assess their knowledge regularly. We use these assessments to collect data, and that data will help inform our instruction as we continue to utilize the program. It is fantastic to see our students and faculty get excited about this program, which will play a large part in our continued success as we collect data and improve our instruction.

Science classes at Mount Vernon STEAM Academy have begun diving deep into scientific concepts in their classes. Students presented their analysis of a crime this week, and they were able to use deductive reasoning to determine information about the crime, such as when it took place. This forensics class, taught by Mr. Nifontoff, does a wonderful job of teaching students about scientific concepts in a way that is engaging and comprehensive.

We had the honor of naming School Social Worker Alethia Bryan as an Educator of the Year for the 2023-2024 school year, as she did amazing work last school year to deserve this award. She graduated from Mount Vernon High School, and her choice to come back to her home District to help the kids here means so much to us. She works hard to play a role in the success of Mount Vernon Leadership Academy students, and she has done a wonderful job. Thank you, Ms. Bryan, for being there for our scholars!

Kindest Regards,

Dr. K. Veronica Smith

Acting Superintendent of Schools

The Mount Vernon City School District’s 2023-2024 graduation rate climbed to a level not seen in more than two decades. The projected graduation rate – 79.9% – increased 5.6 percentage points over the previous year. The District utilized data to provide feedback for targeted progress monitoring and intervention to make this increase possible. Targeted monitoring and intervention also allowed faculty and staff to foster a connection with students to help them succeed.

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Teachers throughout the Mount Vernon City School District met in their schools and via Zoom for curriculum meetings on Wednesday, September 25, 2024. Teachers learned about how to implement various learning programs such as i-Ready, Achieve 3000, Foundations in Learning A-Z, SchoolAI, and the District-wide writing initiative. Some teachers also had planning time at the end of the meetings to prepare their lessons.

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Students in Karl Nifontoff’s forensics class at Mount Vernon STEAM Academy became investigators for their latest project, which they presented on Wednesday, September 25, 2024. Students reviewed a case study of a murder and used deductive reasoning to determine the timeline of the crime, who the killer was and what the motive was.

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Alethia Bryan, Social Worker at Mount Vernon Leadership Academy, graduated from Mount Vernon High School in 1986. She began working in the shelter and foster care system, but she transitioned to education because she wanted to impact the most children she possibly could. She started working in the school district she was raised in and has been able to accomplish that goal. Ms. Bryan was named Educator of the Year at Mount Vernon Leadership for her work with students during the 2023-2024 school year.

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