Here's what's new in Rittman Exempted Village Schools for the 2025-'26 school year
Schools in district: Rittman Elementary School (131 N. Metzger Ave.) Rittman Middle-High School (50 Saurer St.) Rittman Early Learning Center (131 N. Metzger Ave.)
Superintendent: Jon Ritchie
District office: 100 Saurer St., Rittman
Office number: 330-927-7401
Start date: Monday, Aug. 18, for all students, K–12
New teachers and staff
Dan Steidl – Rittman Middle School principal
Elizabeth Mikan – Seventh grade English language arts
Brittani Richards – High school intervention specialist
Olivia Vaughan – Tutor
Adam Bidlack – Tutor
Brandon Reed – Physical education
Nathan Davis – Fourth grade science/social studies
Gabriela Heideman – Kindergarten
Anna Clements – Elementary intervention specialist
Katie Williams – Math/reading tutor
Emily August – Third grade math
Facilities and equipment updates
A new track has been installed ahead of the 2025-26 school year.
Key dates and events
Aug. 14-15, staff personal development/orientation day; Oct. 17 and March 20, additional personal development days
Student start date: Monday, Aug. 18
Rittman Middle and High schools: Building open daily 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Aug. 7–13 for students to pick up schedules, find classrooms, pay fees and locate lockers
Preschool-grade five meet-and-greet: 3-4:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 15 at Rittman Elementary and Early Learning Center
This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Back to school details for Rittman Schools teachers athletic director
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As a Black Christian person, as a descendant of slaves, I think when I sing, I feel really connected to my ancestors,' said Howard, who grew up in Virginia and now sings as a soloist at Concord, where she's been a congregant for six years. 'I really feel sometimes like it's not just me singing, it's my lineage singing.' ___ This content is written and produced by Religion News Service and distributed by The Associated Press. RNS and AP partner on some religion news content. RNS is solely responsible for this story. ___ Founded in 1847, Concord Baptist Church is Brooklyn's oldest historically Black congregation. At the time, a nearby neighborhood known as Weeksville, now considered part of central Brooklyn, was the second-largest free Black community in the United States before the Civil War, said Amanda Henderson, collections historian at the Weeksville Heritage Center. Louise Nelson, a Brooklyn native and church historian of the Berean Baptist Church in Crown Heights, said music was the foundation of the early church, and that remains true for churches in the borough today. "The songs that uplifted us and kept us going through the midst of our misery — music is who we are,' Nelson said. 'I don't think you can have a church today without the music because it brings unity in that idea that we can all do it together.' According to Pew Research Center data, between 2019 and 2023, Black Protestant monthly church attendance fell from 61% to 46% — the largest decline among major U.S. religious groups. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this trend, and its impact is visible in the thinning choir stands. Glenn McMillan, Concord's director of music ministry and a musicology teacher at the City University of New York, who has worked in New York City church choirs since 1994, recalls a time when historically Black churches in Brooklyn regularly had multiple choirs at each parish. 'In the last 20 years, the members of church choirs started getting older because this generation does not see church as important as it was back in the day,' McMillan said. The choir at Concord has shrunk from about 50 voices before the pandemic to 30 today, McMillan said. Back in 2006, the choir featured 100 voices. According to research published by in June, Black Protestants attended church on Zoom more than other denominations during the pandemic, and they have been the slowest to return to in‑person worship. 'The internet has taken over and streaming has taken over,' McMillan said. 'People don't goin to the building as much as they are streaming it.' 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