Warren BOE accepts principal and assistant principal resignations
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VINCENT – Warren Local School District Board of Education voted to accept resignations of Warren High School's principal and assistant principal during their monthly meeting Tuesday.
High School Principal Ryan Lemley will resign effective May 2 and become the director of operations at Belpre City Schools next school year.
Assistant Principal Kara Pinkerton is taking a job at Eastern High School in Brown County.
Kyle Scott will transfer from elementary school assistant principal to the high school. He said it was an honor to accept the position because several Warren staff members were influential in his education and decision to become a teacher.
Another item on the agenda included adopting Erin's Law into the district handbook. The law mandates age appropriate sexual education for child sexual abuse prevention and dating and sexual violence prevention. Ohio passed the law in December 2022 and required school districts to have a plan in place by the end of the 2023-2034 school year.
Several community members expressed concern regarding the verbiage being appropriate for certain ages and whether it complied with Ohio Revised Code.
Emily Tewager, of Hopewell Health Center, the district's partner in mental health services, said she thought the curriculum satisfied all requirements.
"This doesn't mean that the conversation is over and we'll never talk about this again," Board President Debbie Proctor said to attendees after an extended conversation. "We hear you."
Board member Jesse Roush said the board didn't have any more time to wait in adopting the law.
"We don't have a choice in when to implement this. It has to be done this school year," he said
Superintendent Kyle Newton said the district waited to implement the curriculum until now due to lack of written resources.
"We found out about it in the fall, then we worked with Hopewell because they are experts in the mental health field," he said. "Their counselors are already on our campuses so they will come into classrooms to talk about this with teachers present."
He also said if a parent was uncomfortable with the curriculum being taught, they had the option to opt out.
Roush also said the planned administration building will not be built.
Kristen Hainkel can be contacted at khainkel@newsandsentinel.com