GOSHEN, Ohio — A Goshen Board of Education member has earned a statewide award recognizing her grasp of school governance, the district said in a Facebook post.
Melissa Paprocki received the Ohio School Boards Association’s STAR Aptitude Award on Tuesday evening at the association’s Southwest Region Fall Conference, held at the Warren County Career Center, according to the district’s post.
The Aptitude Award is one of four honors in OSBA’s STAR recognition program, which also includes Service, Training and Recognition awards, according to the association. To earn it, a board member must pass an online assessment covering six areas of board governance — vision, accountability, policy, community engagement, relationships and advocacy — with a score of at least 80%. The assessment is offered annually each June and July, and members who fall short can retake it during that window, OSBA says.
A board member who collects all three of the Service, Training and Aptitude awards within the program’s required time frame, then earns board approval for the Recognition Award, is designated a Master Board Member by the association.
Paprocki was unanimously appointed to the Goshen board in 2022 to fill a vacant seat. She holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from Purdue University and has worked in account and category management for Nestle USA since 2010, after an earlier sales career with Kraft Foods. She serves as president of the Goshen Education Foundation and has volunteered for years across the district’s school buildings, including on the committee that backed the district’s 2019 bond issue.
OSBA is a membership organization that supports local school boards across Ohio through professional development, legislative advocacy and governance training. It is organized into five regional divisions, including the Southwest Region that includes Goshen Local Schools, and is headquartered in Columbus.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Goshen Local School District.