McCONNELSVILLE, Ohio (WCMH) — A central Ohio school district finds itself in a financial crisis and without a superintendent.
The Morgan Local School District announced that it reached an agreement with Superintendent, Dr. Kristin Barker to part ways. The agreement to separate came amidst an investigation by NBC4’s Colleen Marshall who has been looking into a $2 million budget shortfall announced publicly by the district last month.
At a heavily attended board meeting, the district announced that the then-superintendent proposed closing the Morgan Local Schools Career Technical Center in a cost-cutting move. Additionally, 16 teachers were given letters of dismissal and were informed that their jobs will be eliminated at the end of the current school year.
In an interview just days before it was announced she was leaving the district, Barker acknowledged that just three years ago, the district had an $11 million budget surplus but now has a $2 million deficit.
When asked why the board was not made aware of the financial crisis until last November, Barker claimed the deficit came to light when she was putting together a five-year forecast in October.
“It really was that five-year October forecast when we really knew the situation we were in,” Barker said.
The Morgan Career Technical Center was the first comprehensive high school tech program in Ohio, meaning a program that is housed inside the high school itself. Back in 1966, Ohio Gov. James Rhodes declared it the future of career education in the state.
WATCH: More on career-tech program
Morgan’s career center remains one of only four comprehensive high schools in Ohio and of the 500 students enrolled in the high school, 321 of them are in career-tech programs.
News of the possible loss of career tech is devastating for students who are counting on the program to be a pathway to jobs.
“The program I am in is a two-year program,” junior Wiley Palmer said. “This is my first year and so learning only half the material would get me nowhere. It feels like I would throw away a year of my life.”
Wiley’s father, Cory Palmer, is also the product of a career-tech education and is now employed by one of the manufacturing companies in the region that relies on the high school for employees.
“I’m disappointed that the people that as a community we put our trust in to have the best interests of our kids in mind, to me, it seems like they failed,” Cory Palmer said.
Those concerns are echoed by precision machining teacher Brian Simms, who predicts the loss of career tech will be devastating for the entire community, especially major employers who rely on the school for a well-trained workforce.
“Most people don’t come to McConnelsville unless they have a reason to come to McConnelsville,” he said of the geographically isolated community. “It’s very hard for these businesses to attract outside talent, so they depend heavily on these career tech programs.”
Barker blames the financial problems on dwindling enrollment and rising salaries but many people in the district blame Barker for unfettered spending. The district spent $7 million on a new stadium and NBC4 obtained copies of a receipt that shows the furniture in the office of one of the district’s two new full-time athletic directors cost nearly $28,000.
