WOODSFIELD — Jeremy Beardmore will be the next superintendent of the Switzerland of Ohio Local School District.

Current Superintendent Phil Ackerman said he believes it is time for him to retire.

“I was superintendent here before, and I retired here as superintendent 20 years ago. And then I worked at the Ohio Valley Educational Service Center in Cambridge for 16 years, and I really never thought I would be back here again,” Ackerman said. “But the opportunity presented itself, so I came back. I thought I’d be here for just a year, but I have had four one-year contracts. But I think it’s time for someone new to take over, and I know Jeremy will do a great job.”

He added that he has enjoyed his time as superintendent and said that he had the opportunity to work with good people who do excellent work.

Beardmore said it’s an honor and a privilege to be selected for this position and that he is thankful for the board for giving him the opportunity.

“I’ve been the assistant superintendent for the last eight years at Mid-East Career and Technology Centers, which is in the Zanesville area, but we also have a school in Guernsey County. So I’ve done that for about the last eight years. I actually got my start here. I’m from Monroe County,” Beardmore said. “I graduated from Monroe Central in 2000, and after that I got my undergrad at Ohio University. And then I came back and taught high school math at Beallsville High School for seven years. Then I moved on to Ohio Valley ESC and did a lot of curriculum and administrative work there before I went to Mid-East for the last eight years.”

Beardmore was voted into the new role unanimously by the board.

Although there were calls for celebration of his hiring at Thursday evening’s meeting, not everybody was smiling.

During the meeting’s open public forum, incoming freshman Lola Moore told the board that she was not happy with its recent decision to close Beallsville High School. Two weeks ago, the Switzerland of Ohio Board of Education voted unanimously to eliminate grades 9-12 from the school campus in Beallsville.

“I feel like we were just thrown away, like this was done so dirty. We didn’t get any notice. They posted it on our school page right in the middle of school,” Moore said.

She added that she was informed that the school was closing by a fellow classmate when the announcement was posted while the students were in school during their last day before summer vacation.

Moore would have been the fifth generation in her family to attend Beallsville High School.

“I would have been the fifth generation in my family that would have graduated from Beallsville, and that chance was taken away from me. I don’t understand how these people are able to throw us away like trash and not feel any remorse whatsoever,” she said. “They never gave a real reason to why they shut down Beallsville High School. All they all said is, ‘We don’t need Beallsville’. I know our high school wasn’t shut down for any academic reasons.Our high school has had the highest academic levels throughout the district.

“I also know our school has enough financially. Ninety people are putting more money down the drain because you have to pay more money for bus drivers and more bus routes just to get us to and from the schools we don’t want to take,” she continued. “… Beallsville will never be just a school. It was a home to me and many others, and we just got evicted from it.”

Although no one from the board responded to Moore, Ackerman said he doesn’t believe there ever would be a good time to make the announcement that the school would be closing.

“I don’t know when there would be a good time to do that. The Beallsville community loves their school, so I don’t know if there will be a good time to do that. So, in terms of it being quick, it’s just the board of education made that decision at the end of the school year. In terms of the timing of it, it is giving people the opportunity. It’s three months before the next school year starts, so they’ve got an opportunity to decide which school they want to go to. I think that, and the employees also the same way, they’re going to have an opportunity to make that transition and adjustment. Beallsville was closed because of the numbers, in terms of enrollment,” Ackerman said. “We had an open house at both of the schools this week, on Tuesday, both at Monroe Central and River High School. We had a large majority of those students and their parents attend those meetings. They have a choice through open enrollment ’til June 30. They can go to whichever one of the two high schools they want to.”