Farmersville and Germantown play a large role in supporting county educational services, with both the Superintendent of the Montgomery County Educational Service Center (MCESC) and a Board member living in our community. The MCESC has multiple school buildings in the county for special education and is headquartered on Keowee Street in Dayton.

German Township resident and Valley View grad Shannon Cox was named superintendent in 2019; she has worked at the MCESC in various capacities since 2009.

Greg Shell of Farmersville, also a Valley View alumnus, serves on the MCESC Governing Board. He was appointed in 2004 to replace his father, Don Shell of Jackson Township, who had served for many years.

Also, by state law, Valley View is one of only six school districts that can elect members to the Governing Board of the MCESC, which manages the organization’s $85 million budget.

Montgomery County Educational Service Center

The Montgomery County Educational Service Center provides educational services to 16 public school districts in Montgomery County and other educational entities across the Greater Dayton region and beyond. 

The MCESC was known as the Montgomery County School Board until Ohio officially switched from county school boards and districts to Educational Service Centers in July 1995. The inclusion of only six districts on the Governing Board is a holdover from that era that has not been updated by the State.

The Montgomery County superintendent was involved in facilitating and approving the merger of Germantown and Farmersville schools in 1968. See VV Founding Time of Hope, Controversy

There are 51 ESCs in Ohio, and the Montgomery County ESC is 4th in size after ESCs serving the major metro areas of Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati. Ohio schools, including Valley View, are permitted to select which ESC to join.

Serving Schools

According to Superintendent Shannon Cox, the number one service that most ESCs provide is special education services or related services like occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech and language therapy and psych, vision and hearing services. The Montgomery County ESC can provide teachers for special classrooms that serve a district on a daily basis but are employees of the MCESC.

Besides help in the classroom, the MCESC helps districts adhere to State mandates. For example, by State law, districts are required to be involved in a Business Advisory Council (BAC). Instead of districts taking time and expense to establish their own councils, the MCESC organized a Business Advisory Council that was recognized by Governor DeWine for excellence. The BAC brings together educators, industry leaders, and community partners to build meaningful, sustainable connections that prepare students for success in the workforce.

While the MCESC does charge for many of its services, the BAC is a free service to enhance the value to member schools. The MCESC receives state funding based on the number of students in the districts it serves, which accounts for about $2.1 million a year.

Another pending State law would require public schools to offer at least 60 hours of career exploration instruction for students in grades 6 through 8 and individual academic and career plans by the end of the 8th grade. These are the kinds of things Cox says the MCESC stays on top of with plans to offer guidance and services to schools quickly if the law passes.

The MCESC also helps districts with superintendent and treasurer searches when those jobs need to be filled.

Valley View’s Participation

A public records request showed that Valley View will spend $1.2 million with the Montgomery County ESC in the 2026-2027 school year.

The contract includes multiple services; examples include:

Superintendent Andrea Cook said in a statement:

“As a smaller district, hiring full-time staff for every specialized role is financially impractical. Contracting with MCESC allows us to cost-effectively share resources and access highly qualified personnel. We rely on MCESC across several key areas:

Additionally, for students with complex special needs, MCESC provides specialized programming and environments equipped with tailored resources that our district cannot host independently.”

Superintendent Shannon Cox

As superintendent, Shannon Cox has seen incredible growth at the MCESC. “Roughly since I've been superintendent, we have doubled our budget and doubled the amount of people who work here,” Cox said.

Cox, who recently completed her doctorate from an online program of the College of William and Mary, is a frequent keynote speaker at educational conferences across the country. “What I really enjoy doing is every day I get to tell our story either locally, regionally, statewide, nationally, and just recently globally. In some cases, we are asked to present. We are sought after to come and show other people how to do this work. Most recently, I was just in Chicago with my director of instructional services presenting to superintendents in the Midwest.”

The innovations Cox is sharing caught the attention of the producers of “Advancements with Ted Danson,” an educational television series hosted by the actor. A crew taped in the MCESC offices in early August. Ted Danson did not visit Dayton for the taping.

On being a Spartan in the role, Cox said, “I love it on our Franklin B. Walter Scholarship Day when the Valley View kid gets to come up there. I mean, there's just a little bit of me that gets a little like, oh look, it's the hometown crowd. It doesn't mean that I don't absolutely love the Centerville kid that comes across the stage and the Brookville kid that comes across the stage. But you can't not feel it. So I will never apologize for that. But I will also always do my job.”

Representing Valley View and the Community

Greg Shell has been on the MCESC Governing Board since he was first appointed in 2004. He runs for re-election to the five-member Board every four years. It’s a ballot item many overlook, but Board members play an important role in managing the MCESC multi-million dollar budget.

Shell not only serves on the MCESC Board, he also represents the organization on the board of the Miami Valley Career Technology Center. He regularly attends Valley View Board of Education meetings to ensure he can help represent the interests of the District.

The six school districts that elect members to the MCESC Governing Board are Mad River, Valley View, Jefferson, New Lebanon, Brookville, and Northridge. Even though other districts purchase more services and spend millions more with the MCESC, a change in State law will be required to adjust the Board.

The current representation on the Board, according to Shell, are two members from Brookville, two from New Lebanon and him from Valley View. That is three relatively small districts with a lot of power over the state’s 4th largest ESC.

Shell gave a lot of credit to fellow Valley View alumna Cox for her work to build the MCESC. “She is really well-regarded by the leaders of Ohio and they call on her a lot,” Shell said.

Asked about a program the Board approved that he values, Shell pointed to the DriveSmart Ohio program to provide driver’s education to high school students. The program started in late 2024, and there are already 20 cars on the road.

The DriveSmart program works to reduce barriers for learners to complete their course requirements and obtain a driver's license, expanding access to work and participation in school activities.

The MCESC Governing Board meets the second Thursday of the month .

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