by Evi Fromm

What is it about Bellbrook Sugarcreek Schools that draws back so many former students to join the faculty?

The definition of community is a group of people living in the same place or having something in common. Tess Rivero, a math teacher at Bellbrook High School, is a fourth-generation Bellbrook alumnus, Class of 1993.

Rivero said that when she first became a teacher, coming back to teach at Bellbrook was not something she saw herself doing, but she has never regretted her decision to come back. Rivero first started teaching in West Carrollton in 2001 and then in Waynesville in 2005. She returned to Bellbrook in 2015.

“I realized how important community is,” Rivero said. “And I felt that I could contribute more by teaching in the same community in which I lived and grew up.”

The experiences these teachers had at Bellbrook, however, are very different from those of today’s students.

“It was very fun and memorable,” Carrie Frantz, a first-grade teacher at Stephen Bell Elementary School, said. “The high school that I attended is now BCI, the middle school that I attended is now the Board Office. Interstate 675 had just been built, but as students, we weren’t allowed to drive to school.”

When Frantz went through Bellbrook schools, she learned to type on a typewriter while students today spend almost all of their class time typing on computers. Even 10 years ago, Chromebooks for all students was not a common occurrence.

BHS alumnus and government teacher, Perry Caldwell, also discussed the new relationships he had to build with his former teachers and administrators when he came back to Bellbrook.

“I was blessed to get to work alongside some of the influential educators who were my teachers,” Caldwell said. “I would still call them Mr. or Mrs. so and so.”

There are 45 Bellbrook alumni working throughout the district.

Board Office

Matt DeLong ’03 – Technology Director

Tom Fryman – Support

Melissa Richardson (Montgomery) ’00 – Support

Ray Watts ’92 – Support

Sheila Woody (Brandenburg) – Support

Transportation

Claudia Fahrenholz (Sieber) – Support

Amber Stewart (Vaughn) ’09 – Support

Erin Tubandt (McKeever) – Support

Stephen Bell Elementary

Emily Balazs – Support

Tammy Barnett (Walker) ’76 – Support

Rachelle Davis (Fabrick) ’91 – Support

Carrie Frantz (Ernst) – Teacher

Julie Herres (Kemp) ’93 – Teacher

Marjorie Horvath (Verner) – Support

Stacy Tincher (Bender) ’89 – Teacher

Bell Creek Intermediate 

Denise Benetis (Walker) ’90 – Support

Jennifer Caito (Darragh) ’00 – Support

Angela Couch (Root) ’11 – Teacher

Katie Ford – Support

Molly Knisley (Cable) – Teacher

Renee Main (West) ’86 – Teacher

Pamela Sizemore – Teacher

Bellbrook Middle School

Lynzee Allen (Johnson) ’06 – Teacher

Tammy Bacich (Cupp) – Teacher

Tom Bean – Teacher

Katie Blankenship (Clayton) – Teacher

Emily Cline (Tischer) ’01 – Teacher

Tracy Dawson (Mothersole) – Support

Allyson Geis (Bakita) ’05 – Teacher

Zach Guess ’10 – Teacher

Ellen Guthrie (Herrick) – Teacher

Shelby Herlihy (Sigman) ’12 – Teacher

Mary Kay Marsh (Brucken) – Teacher

Pamela McKeever (Critz) – Support

Molly Miller (Oswalt) – Teacher

Holly Mothersole – Teacher

Jennifer St. Pierre ’03 – Teacher

Jason Tincher ’90 – Teacher

Bellbrook High School

Katie Bills-Tenney (Bills) ’99 – Teacher

Cody Brown ’99 – Teacher

Perry Caldwell ’89 – Teacher

Nathaniel Charlesworth ’15 – Teacher

Aaron Fromm ’95 – Teacher

Jeff Jenkins – Teacher

Amanda Newsome (Stewart) ’12 – Teacher

Charlie O’Dell ’02 – Athletic Director

Tess Rivero (Black) ’93 – Teacher

Andrew Soloman ’04 – Teacher MS/HS