Hodge extended 3-year contract to fill principal role
Riverside Board of Education members accepted at their August meeting the retirement resignation of longtime Elementary Principal Mason Bryan, effective Oct. 28.
Bryce Hodge, the pre-K through 12 assistant principal, also was extended a new three-year contract to fill Bryan’s role as the new elementary principal. His new contract is effective Aug. 1 through July 31, 2025.
Before his assistant principal position, Hodge was previously employed by the district as an intervention specialist for five years. Currently serving as the head varsity football coach as well, he is a 2011 Riverside High School graduate.
Moving into the new role, Hodge said he is training with Bryan in these opening weeks of the new school year.
“I’m trying to spend as much time as possible with him before he retires on Oct. 28.”
Bryan will retire after serving 35 years in education, including a number of years spent at Riverside. Prior to serving as elementary principal, he also worked as the district’s curriculum and special education director.
His building was recognized on the state level in 2019 during with a visit from the Ohio Department of Education Committee on Teaching, Leading and Learning Committee. Riverside was one of 11 school districts in Ohio that year to receive an A letter grade on the K-3 Literacy standard on the state report card.
The ODE committee visited the district to glean insights into some of the training background and how the school was able to pull off significant gains on state testing.
Riverside Elementary also received the ODE’s 2019 High Progress School of Promise Award, recognizes attaining high achievement and substantial progress according to state assessment scores and multiple data.
Also during the meeting, the board extended a three-year contract to new assistant principal Seth Meyer, effective Aug. 12.
Other personnel hires for the 2022-23 school year included: Ashley Borchers, kindergarten teacher; Alan Pope, bus driver; Carolyn Preston, Tonya Richards, kitchen staff; and Samuel Fleming, marching band assistant.
The next meeting is 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20, at the school library.