UPDATE: Beallsville High Closed
UPDATE: (Thursday, May 29) In a matter of minutes following the 2:00 pm opening of the Special Meeting of the Switzerland of Ohio Local School Board Meeting this afternoon, the fate of Beallsville High was decided.
At 2:06 pm, a motion was made by Board President Greg Schumacher and seconded by Ron Winkler to suspend classes 9-12 at Beallsville. The 5-0 unanimous vote included members Jerry Gust, Robert Putsock and Ken Phillips.
Beginning with the 2025-26 school year, former Beallsville High School students will go to either River or Monroe Central high schools.
According to the Switzerland website high school enrollment during the current year at Beallsville was 92. River High enrollment was 180, Monroe Central, 239 and 136 students were enrolled at Swiss Hills Career Center.
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In a printed notice dated May 22 and shared with administrative staff at Beallsville Tuesday night and all staff Wednesday according to our sources, the Switzerland of Ohio Local Board of Education announced a Special Board Meeting will take place at Swiss Hills High School, tomorrow, Thursday, May 29 at 2:00 pm.
In the short agenda provided Barnesville Area News Wednesday afternoon and posted below, is item #3 “Consideration of suspension of grades 9-12 at Beallsville High School”.
The Notice also states the following, “The public may attend. There will be NO Public Participation”.
This is not the first time the future of Beallsville High School has been in the balance.
At another Special Meeting in February 2015, the Switzerland Board of Education voted 3-2 to close Beallsville at the end of the school year.
A local citizen’s group filed a suit against the decision and won in court. The June 22, 2016 former Barnesville Enterprise reporting, “the Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals has upheld a Monroe County Court decision that the Switzerland of Ohio School Board of Education violated open meeting laws when it voted last year to close Beallsville High School”.
“The Court of Appeals denied the school district’s appeal and upheld the decision of Monroe County Common Pleas Court Judge Julie Selmon to grant an injunction sought by the Beallsville Keystone Committee to keep the school open through the school year that just concluded in May.
“Selmon had also ruled that the board acted inappropriately by discussing public matters in executive session at their March 10 and May 6 meetings.”
It is somewhat ironic that Thursday will be the last day of school this year for Beallsville students. Classes will be dismissed two hours early.
This is a copy of the Public Notice for the Switzerland of Ohio School Board Special Meeting that will take place tomorrow afternoon at Swiss Hills High School.
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