With the 2025-26 school year fully underway at Greene County High School, there are some new instructors, as well as some highlighted areas for academic learning. 

Principal Karen Shannon says one of the new teachers is Ethan Martin, who teaches industrial technology, which brings on classes such as home maintenance, construction and woods, and is something the high school hasn’t had for a while.

“Those classes that just had been really popular (and) it was a huge void when we didn’t have that. So, he comes to us from Fort Dodge, has been in education for five years, and left education and realized, ‘You know what? He likes it,’ and he’s going to come back. So, we were excited to have him join us.”  

Another big change was instituting a cell phone policy last year, where students were required to keep their phones in pockets at the front of the classroom during instruction time. Shannon feels this was an acceptable adjustment for students, and now that it is a new state law, that can help reinforce the enforcement of the policy. 

“Were there kids that got violations, you bet. Were there detentions served, you bet. Were there kids that had phones that couldn’t come back to school, yes. But they were really few. We only had a couple of kids that got to the fifth violation. Two out of 400 kids, about, is pretty small. So I would say it was a pretty successful year, I think this year will be even more successful.” 

Shannon adds that for the staff, they are focusing attention on the next step to become a High Reliable School, which is guaranteeing a viable curriculum that reaches the essential standards that they identified from the state two years ago. The full list of the new hires can be found below.

 

Stef Jorgensen – Counselor

Abigail House – English/Language Arts

Ethan Martin – Industrial Tech 

Steve Kehoe – Agriculture Education