The Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce hosted a luncheon last week welcoming the newest members of the county’s teaching staffs. The printed program listed 48 new staffers for the county including some board office personnel, administrators and teachers.

Shepherdstown Middle School welcomed new principal William Kerlina as well as five new teachers. Joining the staff in the language arts department are Megan Garland and Marriane Tomasic. Angela Brown comes in to teach Spanish and Benjamin Erskine will teach music. New Media Specialist Catherine Athey is also on board.

Shepherdstown Elementary also welcomed some new faces. Rebecca Conrad will teach fifth grade and Matthew Robins will teach third.

Jefferson High School also saw new staffers: Justin Brown will teach social studies, Allison McKee and Kayla Perry will now be teaching math at the high school and Bill Wingardner will teach physical and general science. Kerri Brown is a new counselor and Robert Neff will head up a science class at both Jefferson and Washington high schools.

All teachers in attendance at the luncheon received a bag of “goodies” provided by the following businesses and organizations: American Public University Systems, Audiology Hearing Care Services, BB&T, Bank of Charles Town, Blue Ridge CTC, Breast Cancer Awareness Cumberland Valley, Cell Page Communications, Chick-Fil-A, City National Bank, Edward Jones Investments, Elmcroft of Martinsburg, Fargo-Jones Insurance, Frontier Communications, Girl Scout Council of the Nations Capital, Guy’s Buick GMC, Jefferson Medical Center, Kable Team Realty, MidAtlantic Farm Credit, MVB Bank, Over the Mountain Studio Tour, OWPR Inc., Panhandle Home Health, River Riders, Shepherd University, Specialty Business Supplies, Telemon Corp., United Bank, United Way and Vivo Hair Salon and Day Spa.

During the luncheon, which was held at the Charles Town Moose Lodge, the Chamber also recognized Jefferson County’s Teacher of the Year, Karri Schnably. Schnably is a second grade teacher at Ranson Elementary School. She has served in that position for 26 years..

Giving words of wisdom to the new staff was Charles Howard, local attorney and longtime member of the Chamber’s education committee. Superintendent Susan Wall was also on hand to offer comments..

School opened for students on Thursday of this week.