Josh Albregts was thrilled when he was named the new Wellsville-Middletown High School boys basketball coach for the 2024-25 school year.

“It’s my first year coaching high school basketball, but it’s something that I wanted to do now,” Albregts said. “It’s been a dream forever for me and I finally get a chance to do it here in Wellsville.”

Albregts is also happy that he will continue to teach. He is the new science teacher at the junior high school at W-M.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Albregts said. “Science has always been my thing. I taught eighth grade science at Wright City. That is going to translate here just perfectly fine.”

Albregts is one of numerous new teachers in the Montgomery County area. The W-M R-I School District has eight new teachers, while the Montgomery County R-II School District has 21.

R-II held a training orientation for the new teachers from Aug. 7-9. R-I had its new teacher orientation on Aug. 8. All of the new teachers are preparing for the first day of school, which is scheduled for Aug. 20.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Albregts said. “This year, I did not take part in any sort of part-time jobs or anything like that to keep me busy over the summer. So it’s been a relaxing summer, which is kind of a different pace for me. Right now, it’s going to be one of those things where I’m ready to hit the ground running and I’m ready for the kids to be back.”

As the new W-M High School boys basketball coach, Albregts is looking to help the Tigers get back on the winning track. The program finished with losing records in each of the last two years after competing in the Class 1 Show-Me Showdown in 2022.

“Right now, the sky’s the limit,” Albregts said. “Last year’s record (2-22) put a damper on things for them, but that’s in the past. There’s nothing we can do about that. We’re focused on the future and what we can do this year.”

Besides Albregts, the other new R-I teachers are Courtney Ankrom (Ag), Heidi Bailey (K-12 art), Larissa Gamm (Ag), Larry Heck (Junior High social studies), Tim Holman (Junior High counselor), Julian Muller-Williams (K-12 physical education).

Ankrom and Gamm are also the new advisers of the Wellsville-Middletown High School FFA chapter, replacing Emily Holbert and Audrey McDowell.

The new R-II teachers are Jordan Aulbor (high school), Andrew Bethmann (middle school), Bryce Burden (middle school), Amber Forbis (all buildings), Caroline Fudge (high school), Becky Gilbert (middle school), Shannon Harter (Montgomery City Elementary), John Lewis (high school), Krisia Lovato (MCE), Nash Miller (all buildings), Kim Mora (high school), Chris Parker (middle school), Shannon Pugh (MCE), Madonna Pund (high school), Robert Ripperdan (high school), Megan Rogers (MCE), Kennedy Shannon (MCE), Matt Smith (all buildings), Ryan Stamm (middle school) Mya Strauss (MCE) and Kylee Waters (high school/middle school).

Ripperdan and Parker returned to the R-II district this year. Parker worked at the district for 25 years before retiring as high school principal in 2022. Ripperdan is back at the district after working the last two years at the Maplewood-Richmond Heights School District.