BRIDGEPORT – New teachers and staff will greet students at Bridgeport Exempted Village School District when school starts Aug. 27. They met the administrative team Aug. 20 to introduce themselves and share their plans for the 2025/2026 school year. They are joining the Bulldogs team at an auspicious time, with rising enrollment and construction underway on a multipurpose facility that promises to make Bridgeport a beacon of opportunities.
The five incoming teachers each bring skills and experience that will benefit their students.
This will be fifth and sixth grade Social Studies teacher Gracie Gardner’s first time with her own classroom. She has worked for the past two years as a reading specialist at Skyvue Elementary, but her degree is in math and Social Studies. Gardner said Bridgeport Schools shares her beliefs about the importance of education for children.
“It was a perfect fit,” she said. “After the interview I felt like everybody was really welcoming and just the energy I got from interacting with them.”
She added there were opportunities in Social Studies to bring the subject matter to life.
“You can have a lot of fun with it. There’s that aspect of creativity in projects and talking about contemporary things and issues and tying it back to the ancient civilizations that we’ll be talking about, and I think my creativity is a strength in order to come up with the engaging strategies or activities or projects we’re going to do throughout the year. I’ve already been brainstorming a lot of different things, and one of my goals is to make sure my kids are always up and moving or having some type of group work.”
She believes in a student-led approach.
“I want to really give control to the students and help them be the driving force to what we’re doing in the classroom.”
Jessica Byers will be a middle school intervention teacher. Her teaching career started when she graduated college in 2006. She worked at the preschool level, then as a substitute while raising her children. Byers was a reading specialist at Woodsfield Elementary for three years, and when an opportunity opened at Bridgeport Schools, she applied. Byers had heard about the Bulldogs culture.
“I kind of want to make myself a part of a community that has support, supports each other and everyone gets along,” she said. “Everybody seemed so nice when I was here. The support system in learning new things really helped.”
Versatility is one of her strengths. She works well with students who have different learning styles, whether hands-on or through writing or reading.
“Every kid doesn’t learn the same,” she said. “My strength I feel is if I see a kid not getting a concept in a certain way that another child has got a concept, then I’m going to switch it up.”
Kylie Krieger will be teaching high school biology, forensic science, and brings a dual credit Introduction to Biology and dual credit Anatomy and Physiology to the district’s College Credit Plus program.
“I came in with a master’s degree in biology. I hit the ground running. This will be my ninth year teaching.”
Krieger is familiar with the area. Her children attend Bridgeport Schools, and her husband teaches high school math.
“I’ve been kind of involved with Bridgeport. I’ve helped with the musicals in years past. I’ve been the coordinator for Queen of Queens for the past couple years,” she said, referring to the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference competition. “It felt like a good fit.”
She spoke about the importance of building relationships.
“I want to get to know the kids. I want the kids to get to know me, and we’ll have that mutual respect and understanding of each other and that kind of guides our instruction.”
Curriculum Director Leslie Kosanovic said Krieger’s qualifications will enable the district to add Science to the College Credit Plus coursework of English/Language Arts, Mathematics and Social Studies.
“It definitely added to our offerings for our students. We’re all about increasing student opportunity for the future.”
Lauren Nolan, who will be teaching seventh and eighth grade math and high school math, is a Bridgeport alumna and invested in the district.
“I enjoyed coming to Bridgeport when I was in school and this is the place where I decided I wanted to be a teacher because all my teachers were here, so I wanted to go back and be a part of it.”
She taught for two years at the Buckeye Local School District before coming back to her alma mater. Her goal is to inspire interest in math among students by showing them what they can do with numbers.
“I like hands-on activities, projects and things like that,” she said. “We’ll be doing tons of practice.”
Trevin Tush will be working with kindergarteners through second graders in the elementary cross categorical room.
“We’re going to do a lot of hands-on activities and just supporting behavior management and classroom management and just providing great opportunities for real-world experiences.”
He looks forward to helping students as they go into the general classrooms.
“Bridgeport has been supportive in every way to help me start my first year teaching and I’m excited to start the process,” he said. “I really enjoy teaching, just being a role model in the classroom and in life, and I enjoy inspiring excellence.”
The district also welcomed Mike Belon, who will be working kitchen maintenance and cleaning. He came from the Belmont County Commissioners office.
“I think I’ll enjoy it here. I was really welcomed.”
