T-L Photo/JANELL HUNTER/ River High School Principal Ed Trifonoff shows off the new turf at Flannery Field.

WOODSFIELD — The Switzerland of Ohio Local School District Board of Education met at River High School on Tuesday to highlight the district’s commitment toward improving its athletic facilities.

Superintendent Jeffrey Greenley asked for a brief adjournment during the board’s regular meeting so board members could see the new, state-of-the-art turf that was recently installed and completed on Flannery Field for approximately $750,000.

“We want you to see what your investment has gotten you and what the facility looks like,” Greenley said, noting that athletic facility capital improvements are planned for the campuses of Beallsville and Monroe Central.

“I think we made a lot of kids happy,ã said board member Ken Darby. “This is going to be a big source of pride. And that translates into everything they do — academics, sports, their home life. This is amazing. If we’ve got the money, spend it on the kids. They deserve it. They’ve never had anything this nice. It’s time.”

River High School Principal Ed Trifonoff said the main goal in education is to make kids happy. He looks at students and parents as “customers” the district must serve and satisfy.

“Everything we do in education is customer service,” Trifonoff said. “This is like Christmas in August for these kids. You see their eyes light up and they’re grinning from ear to ear. It really is something they can feel proud of.”

At Tuesday’s meeting, the board accepted a donation from the Appalachian Ohio Grant for COSI on Wheels in the amount of $5,000 and a $1,000 donation from Precision Pipeline for the River High School softball team. Ohio West Virginia Excavation Company, HLC Trucking, and the Powhatan Point Lions Club also were recognized for donations to Powhatan Elementary School for the purchase of Chromebooks.

“I want to thank all of these organizations for their donations,” board President Denise Riley said.

“COSI on Wheels is a grant that we had last year where COSI comes for a week and goes to all five major campuses. The kids really enjoyed it,” Greenley added.

The board also discussed the possibility of creating a groundskeeper/maintenance position for the district. According to Greenley and Director of Facilities and Transportation Jason Clutter, the position is needed.

“We’ve discussed this for some time before bringing it to the board for consideration,” Greenley said. “We are discussing hiring an additional maintenance person that will be part of Mr. Clutter’s maintenance crew, but would be more assigned to groundskeeping and would assist with the outdoor spaces at our campuses. The position need is twofold. One, a lot of our head custodians struggle to get everything done. They have the full responsibilities of cleaning the interior and in the summertime they have the additional tasks of weed-eating and mowing.”

“We’ve always got maintenance projects. There is no end to that,” Clutter added. “The need is definitely there for this position.”