May 28, 2021

 

Dear Raider Families, 

 

YOU MADE IT! To quote Jerry Garcia, “What a strange, long trip it’s been.” Congratulations on making it to the end of the 2020-2021 academic school year!

 

To the Class of 2021: you persevered. You took online classes. You Zoomed. You were separated from your friends and classmates and had to make sacrifices but you made it. As a class, you earned more than $6M in college scholarships. You completed 4,467 College Credit Plus credit hours and 209 internships and capstone projects. When you cross the stage at graduation, you should feel #REYNProud and #REYNsilient. Please know I am so proud of you!

 

To all of our students: You showed us that you can handle anything! You competed in athletic competitions, design challenges, online learning and more. You rose and are coming out of this year stronger than ever before. You are #REYNProud and #REYNsilient! 

 

To our staff: what a year. You were flexible. You evolved your skills. You were adaptable. You refused to be defeated by the challenges of this year. You embodied the #REYNProud spirit and you are the definition of #REYNsilient. I want to personally thank you for showing your Raider pride and carrying on. 

 

Last, but not least, to our families: You were the unsung heroes of this pandemic and the past year. You were a parent, teacher, counselor, disciplinarian, employee, friend. We could not have made it through this year without your support. Thank you for being #REYNProud and #REYNSilient.

 

As we say goodbye to this school year, I hope you take the time to rest, relax, and recharge over the summer. There is still plenty of work to do, even over the summer, but it is also important to decompress and take care of our social and emotional needs. 

 

I look forward to returning to some sort of normalcy, especially seeing our students and staff five days a week next fall. While there is much to do, we will not be good stewards of our District if we don’t take a moment to pause and reflect before we forge on.

 

Have a safe and happy summer. I am, and remain always, #REYNProud and #REYNsilient.

 

Sincerely,
  

 Dr. Melvin J. Brown
 Superintendent
 Reynoldsburg City Schools

Dr. Brown has 22 years of school administrative experience. Formerly, he served as the Deputy Superintendent for the Cuyahoga Falls City School District and prior to that as its Director of Human Resources. He has also served as Regional Vice President for Mosaica Education, Inc. and as an Associate Superintendent for Prince William County Schools in the state of Virginia where he supervised 20 schools and more than 22,000 students. Additionally, he has six years of experience as an elementary school principal and two years of experience as a middle school principal. That experience includes four years at Enterprise Elementary School in Dale City, VA which was recognized by Standard and Poor’s for successfully closing the achievement gap in 2005. His non-administrative experiences include teaching middle school language arts, teaching high school English, and coaching track and boys’ basketball. Dr. Brown holds an Ed.D. in Educational Studies, Educational Administration from The Ohio State University. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration and Supervision from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia and a Bachelor’s Degree in English from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.