The decision is in: Beallsville High School will no longer house grades 9 through 12, following a unanimous vote by the Switzerland of Ohio Board of Education. During a meeting at the Swiss Hills Career Center, board members opted 5-0 to suspend the upper grades due to dwindling enrollment figures. As reported by Fox8, the affected students from Beallsville will be redirected to neighboring high schools—River High School for those residing east and Monroe Central for those in the west.
Superintendent Phil Ackerman expressed his belief to WTOV9 that students will benefit from improved opportunities at their new schools. However, this sentiment was not universally echoed, with Beallsville Wrestling/Football Coach Dave Wiles lamenting to Fox8, "Not shocked. Upset yes. We kind of figured it was going to be a 5-0 vote, by some of these board members that I talked to, which even one of our Beallsville guys, is on the board and voted to close us, which I will never understand."
The closure was received with tears and heartache by students and parents alike, initiating a walkout in protest following the board's verdict. A Beallsville parent articulated their distress to The Marietta Times shortly after the decision. Lyndsey Kinney, an incoming senior who now faces the prospect of completing her final year elsewhere, told The Marietta Times, "This really sucks. They took our school, they took our heart, they took my senior year."
While the suspension of the high school grades casts a shadow over Beallsville, the district plans to keep the campus running for preschool through eighth grade. This news offers a fragment of consolation for the community, which is still likely to feel the absence of its high school. Dove Winkler, a Beallsville parent, criticized the timing of the board's decision in an interview with Fox8, questioning why it was announced "when they should be excited for summer break" instead of giving them a "chance for closure."
