For the 2025-2026 school year, seven new teachers have joined the Hayes teaching staff. This group of individuals includes teachers who have been in the district but are switching buildings (such as music teacher Tracy Cinereski and art teacher Whitney Farrell) and teachers who are returning to Hayes as alumni, as well as a few completely new faces. Here’s a closer look at three of the new staff members:
McKenna Shireman
McKenna Shireman is a science teacher, currently covering chemistry and physical science classes. She is also a Hayes graduate herself.
“I graduated from here in 2019,” Shireman said. “It was honestly something that I had been just checking the job board all the time the past two years to see if there would ever be an opening.”
For many students at Hayes, the sentiment of a teacher who was a former student is familiar. Teachers across the building are Hayes graduates, often returning in a way that seems mystifying to their students. However, the high rate of coming back is not without reason.
“So I [have taught] all over the place, and Hayes is by far the most supportive, by admin, other teachers, students, everybody’s been wonderful,” Shireman said.
Shireman is in her third year of teaching, with previous experience at Pickerington High School Central.
Other than the work environment and the familiar space, Shireman has more specific reasons to stay in town.
“My husband, Zach, also went here,” Shireman said. “We are, I guess, technically, middle school sweethearts, but nobody really says that.”
As a further part of the family connection, Shireman’s sister-in-law is also a current student at Hayes, giving them a chance to see each other more often. Overall, Hayes is a comfortable environment for a returning student and resident.
In her free time, Shireman enjoys working with plants and their propagation and going out with friends and family to get coffee. Currently, she’s devoted to the project of bringing more plants to her classroom.
“I spend so much of my day in here, I want it to feel like me, because it’s a place that I want to be,” Shireman said.
Hannah Jarvis
Another resident and graduate of Hayes, Hannah Jarvis is a current biology teacher starting her second year of full-time classroom teaching. She has helped in various roles around different schools, including Woodward Elementary, for the past six years.
If the last name “Jarvis” strikes Hayes students as familiar, it’s likely because of her husband, Tom Jarvis, who is currently a math teacher at the school.
Jarvis shares many of her sentiments about returning to Hayes with Shireman, with both of them being able to return to a place they enjoyed and found comfortable.
“I wanted to come back to where I went to school,” Jarvis said. “I’ve actually had a lot of the teachers that still work here as teachers.”
However, Jarvis still seeks to get away from Delaware at times. Along with her husband and their two children, she enjoys traveling to national parks across the country.
“Mr. Jarvis and I spend all of our summers traveling to national parks,” Jarvis said. “So we have been to almost 230 [of them].”
Out of all the great locations that the national parks provide, the family’s favorite is Yellowstone, which they visit each year.
Ben Brown
Ben Brown is a relatively more experienced hire made this year and a completely new face to the district. Currently in his 11th year of teaching, his past 10 were spent in the Marysville district. Here at Hayes, he teaches Modern World History as well as its honors equivalent.
His shift in districts comes partially as a result of a move in 2019, bringing him much closer to Delaware than Marysville.
“[Working at Hayes,] I went from a 35 minute drive every day to being able to walk to school,” Brown said. “So it’s great.”
Aside from the commute times, Brown also has two boys currently in school at Smith Elementary, which encouraged him to find employment within the district. Outside of the more direct personal reasons, Brown holds greater hopes to contribute to his community.
As echoed by the other teachers found in this article, Brown has nothing but praise for the district overall.
“Everyone I’ve ever talked to that’s taught in Delaware has had a great experience,” Brown said. “I’ve talked to [people] that have left here [and] a lot of them end up coming back to teach here because they like it so much.”
Even without the familiarity of returning to a previous school, Brown has found Hayes to be a comfortable and welcoming environment as a staff member. Beyond Delaware, he had one small tidbit to share.
“I actually went to high school with Dr. Shafer,” Brown said. “He graduated the year after me.”
With this mix of new and returning faces, Delaware continues to grow and thrive as a school district. New hires happen every year, but each and every one of them contributes a fresh perspective and much needed support to the education of students.
