The Belpre City Schools Board of Education gathers Thursday night at the Stone Administration Building for their regular May meeting. (Photo by Gretchen Dowler)

BELPRE – The Belpre City Board of Education concluded the 2025-26 school year with various updates at its regular May meeting Thursday night.

Superintendent Jeffrey Greenley congratulated the 2026 Thomas Warren Roberts Creative Writing Prize recipients, Haiden Whitehouse and Adrianna Fentress, and presented them each with their $150 awards. Whitehouse wrote a piece on the history of entomology, the study of bugs, and Fentress wrote a piece on the book “The Outsiders.”

Greenley and board member Cathy O’Donnell thanked those who helped with this year’s graduation, such as the Belpre Alumni Association, and those who assisted with this year’s sports teams and events, like local track meets.

“We held six (track) meets this year, and you will find that there is no better meet and no better track than the one here,” said O’Donnell regarding this year’s track and field events. “It’s the gold standard. Officials want to be here.”

Greenley also praised the generosity shown in the form of scholarships received by 2026 graduates.

Belpre City Schools Superintendent Jeffrey Greenley takes a photo with one of the 2026 Thomas Warren Roberts Creative Writing Prize Recipients, Adrianna Fentress, as the other recipient, Haiden Whitehouse, looks on. (Photo by Gretchen Dowler)

“I don’t know of another town where this amount is given,” he said.

Belpre Middle School Principal and Co-Director of Teaching and Learning Erica Wright gave an update on the school’s language arts program. She said that in the upcoming year, students will be learning from an elective-based curriculum where they may choose one class for the following four courses: speaking/listening, language, writing and literature.

“We learned that an overwhelming number of students want to take a creative writing course,” said Wright. “We will also be having a sports literature course available.”

Director of Operations, Facilities and Transportation Paul Dailey also gave an update about the status of operations at the schools during the summer.

“We’ll have people at the school for the extended school year program, the band will be out here and so will the sports teams,” he said. “We’re gonna be working on the basketball courts and the gyms as well as the football fields. We’ll also be working with the staff to make sure that they get their stuff moved where they want it in anticipation for the next school year.”

Before the meeting, the board held an executive session to discuss employment of personnel, the sale of real estate property and other matters.

In other business, the board also approved a revised May 2026 financial forecast to be submitted to the state, a reduction in force of vacated positions that are not needed and an agreement for a negotiated contract with the Belpre Education Association from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2029.

The next meeting of the board will be at 5 p.m. June 25, at the Stone Administration Building, 2014 Rockland Ave., Belpre.

Gretchen Dowler can be reached at gdowler@newsandsentinel.com