Plaudits for Monongah Middle School

Beckie Parrish, math teacher at Monongah Middle School for 21 years, is featured in Fairmont Times story that is laudatory to MMS.

Steve Malnick has been the school’s principal for 10 years.

Donald Basnett provided more details:

“The Monongah Middle School teacher, Becky Parrish, is from Mannington originally, maiden name was Daniel. Married to Mike Parrish from Fairview.

“Her brother, Tom Daniel, a retired USPS worker, was an all-state quarterback for Mannington High School many years ago (late 60's), likely played against Brother then.”

Thanks, Don.

By the way, Monongah High has Basnetts throughout its history.

Starting with Roy Basnett, Class of 1932, and Doris Menear Basnett, Class of 1938.

Raymond Basnett, Class of 1947.

Barbara Basnett Cain, who would have been in the Class of 1956 if she hadn’t left Monongah High and Worthington during her sophomore year, moved from Ohio back to Monongah in 1970. Her father was Paul Basnett, who drove both a school bus and a mine bus.

Nancy Riley Basnett, Class of 1960, same as Tom Basnett. Kerri Basnett is Nancy’s daughter.

Dennis Basnett is Class of 1962 and a Fairmont State grad.

Jack Basnett, Class of 1969.

Michael Basnett, Class of 1975.

 

The Fairmont Times article:

FACES OF OUR TOWN: High expectations lead to success at Monongah Middle School

·       By Cliff Nichols Times West Virginian

·       MONONGAH — Set the bar high.

That’s the philosophy at Monongah Middle School, and the concept has led to success.

“I’ll be honest with you. I’d like to see more positive, not just in education, but in everything,” said Steve Malnick, school principal for 10 years. “It seems like we hear nothing but negative in our society anymore, but we definitely have to focus on the positive, or I think everybody will get themselves in a rut.

“I really believe that success breeds success. I believe that people have to know that you’re successful and how you got there. Then people will want to maintain that level of progress. I really believe that you’ve got to focus, especially in education, on the positive things.

“There are great things going on, especially in Marion County. Marion County schools have been at the forefront of so many different things in academics. They’ve been in the top tier for several years in academics from test scores to graduation rates. We really need to be able to focus on that.”

The 1990 North Marion High School graduate who went on to Fairmont State and West Virginia University knows that Monongah Middle has met high standards.

“At Monongah Middle School, we’re very happy to say that our attendance rate is very good,” Malnick said. “We were awarded this year an ‘A’ school. We’re very happy about that.”

Beckie Parrish, a mathematics teacher at Monongah Middle for 21 years, appreciates the recognition the school has received over the years, including being named a state exemplary school and school of excellence. It’s also a U.S. Department of Education National Blue Ribbon School.

Students have also won Health Science and Technology Academy (HSTA) recognition and the opportunity to gain future tuition waivers, as well as Young Writers Awards.

“We’ve had a lot of athletic and academic achievements for our basketball teams,” she added. “They’ve been awarded the academic-athletic award based on GPA.”

Monongah Middle has won five of six years among county schools for raising the most money for the United Way, she added.

“That’s due to the kids,” Parrish said. “They brought in the money.”

She’s also proud of the facelifts at the school, from the auditorium to the fence and steps outside.

“It starts from the top,” Parrish said. “We have to have a great leader. We feel that Mr. Malnick is the leader. He has high expectations of us. Because he has high expectations of us and we respect him, we in turn have high expectations of the students.

“It’s just a snowball effect. We want to do well, and we want the kids to do well. When the kids do well, then they feel good about themselves. They continue to want to do well.”

Malnick said that “we’re very proud of the accomplishments we’ve made over the past 10 years. The students come in with high expectations we’ve put on them, and they live up to that. The faculty has very high expectations of themselves, and so does the administration.”

“If you raise that bar up and have those high expectations, students will meet them. They’re very eager to do their very best.”

Parrish believes coaches Ashley Reed, Chad Davidson and Andrew Weekley help strengthen the school.

“They build that relationship with the families,” she said. “Of course, you have to have a GPA and keep it up to play sports.”

Parrish said that “we’re such a small community and just a tight-knit family. We consider ourselves the Lion family here.

“When we hear all the bad stuff and all the negative comments that the public says, it’s not happening here. We don’t have our eyes closed to it, because we still fight for the others to be recognized as well.”

Parrish went back to college in her mid-30s to become a teacher. She has a bachelor’s degree from Fairmont State and master’s degree from West Virginia University.

“I was fortunate enough to stay home and raise my kids until they became students in school,” she said. “I decided that what I wanted to do was teach kids math.”

She said she once had a dream about teaching.

“I had a dream that I was walking by a classroom,” Parrish explained. “I saw the teacher teaching, and I said to myself, ‘That’s something I’d like to do.’ My kids were in elementary school. I prayed about it. Everything worked out going back to school. My husband (Mike) was really helpful when I was a student. He was really supportive.

“I love it. I love teaching kids. I love teaching math. I love to see that light bulb go off in their heads when they actually understand something. These kids here are a good group of kids. Their discipline is good. The achievement is good.”

Monongah Middle is located in the old Monongah High School building.

There is a display case featuring Monongah High graduate and current Alabama football coach Nick Saban. Other displays show the history of both the school and community.

“We wanted to give back to the community, the high school years, the people who went here,” Malnick said. “One of our first projects here, about eight or nine years ago, was the auditorium.”

The curtains were rotting, but the big “M” from the high school years was saved.

“We were able to frame it, and we’ve got it up on the wall in there, just to give back to the community and to the students who went here when they were in high school,” Malnick said.

He said that “three or four people come every year from Alabama or around that area just to see where Nick Saban went to school.”

Malnick believes that Monongah is “a very good community. It’s very resourceful. It’s very supportive of the school, both academics and athletics.”

He’s optimistic about the future.

“We need to focus on the positive,” he said. “There’s going to be enough negative out there. We need to focus on that positive, for sure. I also think that too many times people want to focus on something that is not positive, and that just brings everybody down.

“Sometimes it also gives a false indicator, a false look at the whole picture, when you focus on the one bad thing when there are 25 great things going on.”