BUCKEYE BOARD — Members of the Buckeye Local school board include, from left, front, Melissa Supanik, vice president; and Teresa George, president; and back, Brooke Stingle, Clint Powell and Ashley West. -- Contributed

DILLONVALE — New leaders were named during the Buckeye Local Board of Education’s organizational meeting on Jan. 13 while safety and bids were addressed in a subsequent session.

Board member Brooke Stingle briefly acted as president pro tempore, after which Teresa George and Melissa Supanik respectively were elected board president and vice president, respectively, during the organizational meeting at the central office in Dillonvale, making it the second time for George to hold the top seat and a first for Supanik as second in command.

George, who most recently served as board vice president, held the seat as president in 2022 and said she was eager to lead again.

“I’m looking forward to it,” she said. “I look forward to working with (Superintendent Coy Sudvary) and to keep the district moving in a positive direction.”

She noted her pride in the student representatives at Buckeye Local High School who will keep the board informed of issues surrounding all of the schools. Seven juniors and seniors were selected and will give a report to officials each month, sharing ideas and concerns among pupils.

“I’m excited about the student board representatives and I hope they bridge the gap between the board and the student body.”

Supanik, who joined the board in 2023, was also excited about her new role.

“I’m looking forward to (being vice president),” she said. “I’m sure there will be a million things I will learn.”

The board also approved a series of operational matters during the session and named Ashley West as legislative liaison and Brooke Stingle as student achievement liaison for the Ohio School Boards Association. Meeting dates were set with the March 17 session to be held at Buckeye West Elementary and the May 19 meeting at Buckeye Local Junior-Senior High School.

During the regular meeting, district safety coordinator Tony Panepucci said Buckeye Local was the first in the state to utilize a virtual safety program concerning active intruder response. The district recently obtained the crisis response leader training program and administrators would share the information with their respective buildings.

“We’re the first in Ohio to do the train-the-trainer sessions,” Panepucci said. “It’s exciting. It feels good to be the leader and I think we’re getting things moving.”

He explained that officials use virtual scenarios to test their reactions during controlled situations within the training modules so they can better equip themselves should an actual incident occur.

“It’s a decision-based program, so the scenarios are given and they make a decision. It’s for thinking in a stressful situation and it’s a controlled environment,” he added. “It was nationally recognized for its work in the AI world.”

Superintendent Coy Sudvary added that once the principals are trained, the teachers can use the modules and work on portable laptops. Meanwhile, Panepucci said district leaders were meeting with officials from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department to discuss active intruder trainings in each of the school buildings and one event was eyed for Buckeye West in April.

In other business, Sudvary said the art room project at the junior high was complete and the site had been made into two classrooms to accommodate the growth since the sixth-grade classes were added this year. However, the football field and track update projects will be rebid after not receiving any responses during two previous attempts.

“We will rebid the track and football field together hopefully in the next two weeks,” he said. “We had no vendors bid on it. We were unsuccessful with the first two bids and it will be bid for a third time with the two jobs bid together.”

McKinley Architecture and Engineering of Wheeling has been contracted to evaluate and oversee the improvements as well as sports master planning services. Officials hope to renovate the track at the high school and also upgrade the football field at World War II Memorial Stadium. The sites were targeted for completion during the current school year and have not received significant upgrades for nearly two decades. Sudvary plans were to put the district on a maintenance cycle so the facilities do not go without repairs.

Among other matters:

• Sudvary lauded officials for School Board Recognition Month, which featured a dinner earlier that evening through the district food services and certificates from the OSBA. He thanked the board members for their work, saying it made his job easier;

• The board learned the district would receive a higher reimbursement through the free and reduced meal program through the 2027-28 school year because more children were eligible to participate;

• Classified contracts were approved for bus drivers Gary Lucas and Donald Creamer Jr. and aides Nicole Billingsley, Victoria Luyster, Kathy Williams and Crystal Windsheimer, while resolutions were passed approving long-term substitute teachers Greta Gazda-Roe, Hailee Nelson, Isaac Rine, Kyle Solar, Pamela Zink and Stevie Roberts for an additional semester of the 2024-25 school year;

• Certified personnel were approved for supplemental duties, including Christopher Kiedaisch as head football coach, Sam Jones as head golf coach and Charles Sempkowski as head cross country coach with Abbey Wilson receiving a pupil activity contract as head volleyball coach, all at BLHS;

• The next regular meeting was set for 5:30 p.m. Feb. 24 at the administrative offices.