New Switzerland of Ohio Local School District (SOLSD) Superintendent John Hall made it clear during his first regular session Board of Education meeting on Sept. 19 that he has goals for the district and he wants to see them through. During the meeting, held at Beallsville, which begins the long line of upcoming road meetings held outside of central office, Hall established three goals that he believes will put the district on a new, better path.
Hall said the first goal for the district is to improve staff morale. According to Hall, the cuts of employees and other issues with the district mean that staff morale is low. He said that must change if the schools are to operate at a higher level.
The second goal stated by Hall was to improve our academic achievement. Referring to the recent state report card that gave SOLSD a failing grade, Hall said he knew the district could do better. I know our staff is up to the challenge, he added.
Hall's third goal should come as no surprise to those who have followed the district's struggles in recent years. Hall said the district's finances must improve if the quality of education is to improve.
Hall also said the he has made some unbiased observations of the district during his first few weeks on the job. He had great compliments for the quality of students in the district, calling the student body generally mannerly, orderly and eager to learn. I've been in a lot of districts, and I can tell you there's few other districts where the kids behave as well as they do here, Hall said.
However, he also identified problems. One of those issues he noticed was fragmentation and division. There does seem to be a competitiveness that sometimes is unhealthy in the district between the communities. That's detrimental in developing the unity that our entire program needs, Hall observed.
He cited the biggest issue he has seen is found in finances and support, or lack there-of, of levies. This district has not had new operating monies since 1985, Hall said. He stated that the norm for middle or high performing districts is that they ask for and receive new operating monies every three to five years.
Hall said this lack of financial support has been detrimental to the district and in addressing issues that are negatively impacting students. He said of the situation, Just like in your own household, if you don't have money to fix the pipes, you don't have money to fix the pipes.
Through all of the challenges, Hall remains optimistic about his new position with SOLSD. Despite the challenges we face, and maybe because of them, I look forward to my service in this district. We want to raise the bar so that growth for all of our students can occur, Hall said.
After Halls superintendents report, the meeting was opened up to public participation. Perhaps the most interesting conversation from the public participation was in regards to what citizens often call double-dipping (the rehiring of retired employees).
John Rosnick of Powhatan Point introduced himself by saying, I came because Im a taxpayer. Rosnick said he had heard three to six retired teachers who were on limited contracts were given continuing contracts to keep working while younger teachers were laid off during district cuts. Rosnick also said he had heard they were brought back at the same pay rate, not a new starting rate.
Officials of the district did not deny what Rosnick had heard. Superintendent Hall said, Contracts have to be followed. In those situations, there were legal, contractual issues. We were following the laws the contract read at the time. Confirming Halls comments was Treasurer Lance Erlwein.