Fort Frye BOE discusses facility plan | News, Sports, Jobs

Board President Stephanie Lang addresses the facility discussion at the Fort Frye Local Schools Board of Education meeting Thursday evening. (Photo by James Dobbs)

BEVERLY — Fort Frye Local Schools Board of Education discussed the facility plan at Thursday’s board meeting.

Board President Stephanie Lang began the facility discussion by telling the audience the board has done its research and has spoken to community members about the plan.

She said the facility plan comes down to the needs of the students. What is concerning to her is what the pandemic has done to the mental health of students, she said.

“And so I have come to the conclusion at this time, that what is best for these children is to stay home, stay in their home school,” she said, explaining that a Pre-K through 12th grade facility is not the best choice for students.

Lang said the most concerning area that could be improved on is Beverly-Center Elementary School.

Mary Beth Schultz, school counselor, gives the board her opinion on the facility plan at the Fort Frye Local Schools Board of Education meeting. (Photo by James Dobbs)

Board Vice-President Karri Schilling said she started to think about how long the bus ride would be for students from Lower Salem if the school transitioned to a single campus and closed Salem-Liberty Elementary. She tried to put herself in the shoes of the parents from Lower Salem and thought how it would feel if her son had to ride the bus for an hour to school in Beverly.

“There is no way, no way I could ever do that to my child,” she said.

She said it does not make sense, with how the district is spread out, to close the schools and move all of the students to Beverly. She suggested leaving things the way they are and bringing the buildings up to date.

Board member Johnna Zalmanek explained that the pandemic is affecting students and their mental health. She said mental health should be put on the forefront of the decision. She didn’t think it was the right time for a single campus or the closing of schools in the district, she said.

The board did not make a final decision. Board member Kevin Worthington said the board has had trouble in the past with putting a resolution on the agenda that was not previously discussed. The board said it would have a resolution on next month’s board meeting agenda expressing that they would like to maintain all of the buildings and would like to renovate the Beverly-Center Elementary School for its current students. This will give the community time to express its concerns.

During the public participation portion of Thursday’s meeting, Mary Beth Shultz, counselor, addressed the board and gave her opinion on a single campus facility. She said she appreciated the board and the difficult decisions that they make, but asked that they take the teachers into consideration as well, when making the decision on the facility plan. She said she is in support of a single campus.

“I’m sorry that this requires earlier and more travel time for more students, but I believe one campus is necessary to meet the ever increasing comprehensive needs of students and families on the Fort Frye Local Schools District,” she said. “We observe more numerous negative behaviors invading our school. Originally because of the opioid crisis and then COVID, we see much higher stress levels, lack of controlling ones environment causes us to over control what we do have access to impact.”

She said the staff comes to school with smiles and positive attitudes, even though they have their own personal stress and traumas to manage. She gave examples about staff being executors for recently deceased family members, helping family members managing stress and even raising children or grandchildren. She said when she interacts with staff she hears them wanting to retire and say that they feel they are not being listened to. She said she and other employees have people approaching them about employment.

“The staff might decide that if your goals don’t align with our goals then we’ll vote with our feet,” she said. “They might be leaving Fort Frye Local School District.”

The board voted on joining the Twin State League athletic conference. The conference is between Point Pleasant, Marietta, Warren, and Fort Frye. Superintendent Stephanie Starcher said the league has been asked to do presentations at two other schools. The board voted to join the league.

The board also discussed purchasing new school buses. Starcher said Ohio has given the green light to purchase over 500 buses across the state. She said school systems that qualified for the buses had buses in their fleet that were commissioned before 2005. She said Fort Frye received approximately 50 percent of the funds to purchase four new buses. Starcher said she found two buses that had never been commissioned and are brand new on the Marietta Truck Sales lot. She said they will cost $10,000 less than a bus that would be ordered to manufacture. She said it would take about 11 months to receive a bus if it was ordered. She said the buses will be in commission next fall. She said the other two buses may be seen on a board agenda in the following year.