Ewing School Principal Hannah Frazier speaks about the potential partnerships with the Ohio Valley Education Service Center. (Photo by Amber Phipps)

The Board of Directors for Ewing School, which is offered through the Washington County Board of Developmental Disabilities, met Tuesday at the school to vote on partnerships with the OVESC (Ohio Valley Education Service Center) and agenda items such as the future of their services.

After an extensive meeting with detailed discussions between the board, community members, and faculty, the board went into executive session and examined agenda items which were determined after print deadline Tuesday evening.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, there were questions raised by members of the community and faculty.

Mandie Morris, who has attended recent Washington County Commission meetings to inquire about the funding of Ewing, provided the board with comprehensive research she conducted on her own time.

“Can I ask what other partnerships you guys have explored,” asked Morris. “I’m asking if we can pause the vote.”

Morris asked to what extent the board had gone with researching other partnership opportunities and if they would pause making any permanent decisions until more research had been conducted.

“I want to be clear that I’m not here to oppose the ESC getting involved with Ewing and I understand the financial challenges facing the county,” she said.

Morris had concerns about the ESC based on the audit which she provided to the board. She requested they review how much oversight the ESC had and to what capacity that would look like if they were to partner with Ewing.

Ewing School Principal Hannah Frazier said she didn’t want the focus of Ewing to get lost in the changes or approved partnerships.

“I don’t want to work for a split district, I want to work for the kids,” she said. “If there’s a possibility to figure something else out, we could table this.”

Board President Jenna Phillips read an anonymous letter into the record which stated a request for a pause on the decision.

Superintendent Tiffany Neill said these are difficult decisions that have been made in many counties in Ohio and they’re not the only ones. She said ESC already supports around 30 preschools in this area.

Morris asked if they had looked into partnerships with Akron Children’s or Nationwide Children’s as potential options for partnerships.

“I can’t imagine that a medical entity would be paying for the expense to educate a child,” said Neill.

She said there were instances in Muskingum County where hospitals had partnered with their county’s Board of Developmental Disabilities for medical services but that wouldn’t apply to this situation.

“There are people on this board that are making phone calls and are spending hours researching, looking, emailing, and calling,” said Phillips. “Every idea you’ve (Morris) mentioned or anything you have said has already been done by somebody on the board.”

Phillips said their team has gone at length to research and ask other counties what they’re doing for school services during a time where funding is down.

Phillips said in some cases they don’t hear back from potential partners or those partners are also unable to help at this time.

“Yes, everything that you’re asking us, we are thinking of and we have thought of or are looking for those same answers,” said Phillips.

Since the tax levy to increase funds for the WCBDD failed in the November election, the board has been researching and making difficult decisions about next steps for the services provided at Ewing School.

The school provides programs for students with disabilities ages 6-22. There are four half-day preschool classes and one full-day kindergarten class for ages 3-6. All classrooms are open four days per week, according to the Ewing School website.

According to Neill, the school serves around 80 individuals and 700 within WCBDD, based on 2024 reports.

To help support WCBDD, the Washington County Commission announced its approval to place a tax levy on the ballot for the May election during its Jan. 8 meeting. The levy is expected to be reduced from the initial tax levy on the November ballot.

For more information visit https://lorao7.sg-host.com/ewingschool/ or https://www.wcbdd.org/