Nov 18, 2014 By Erin Hayes for The 4 min read

JEFFERSON-MORGAN — State Police Trooper Bart Lemansky addressed school board members and concerned parents Monday regarding the continuing bomb threats in the Jefferson-Morgan School District.

State police had announced at a school board meeting Nov. 10 that an arrest had been made in one of the previous three bomb threats in the district since the beginning of the school year, but a fourth threat was made on Friday.

One concern raised is that parents are not receiving alerts in a timely manner through the district’s OneCall Now notification system, said Director Debbie Phillips.

Jacob Shingle, head of technology, said the system, originally implemented to notify parents of general information, only guaranteed notification within 30 minutes of a alert being sent out.

“Thirty minutes is way too long in an emergency,” said Director Jon Hildebrand, who urged the district to look into other systems that would notify parents more quickly. “That’s what it’s all about — the safety of the children and the timely notification in cases of emergency. It’s got to be done quicker, and I know the technology is out there. We need more instant notification.”

Hildebrand urged continued vigilance, noting that the one arrested student had been removed from school, but that the threats continue.

“Everybody was pumped because there was an arrest, but we are not completely out of the woods. We still have problems,” he said. “We need help from everybody in the community.”

Keshia Shelott, whose daughter attends kindergarten in the district, expressed her desire to form a coalition of parents focused on resolving problems in the district. She said the coalition is still in its concept stage, but challenged parents to come together in solving problems rather than just griping about them.

Mattish reminded that board meetings are open to the public and encouraged members of the community to attend. The next safety committee meeting is tentatively scheduled for 5 p.m. Dec. 8.

Assistant Principal Brandon Robinson announced that the district will be holding staggered sessions on Dec. 4, in the auditorium during which Lemansky will address students about “the dangers of making those kind of threats and the possible consequences.”

In other business, in a unanimous vote directors approved the hire of Joe Orr to fill the position of high school principal left vacant with the recent resignation of Bart Donley.

Monday’s school board meeting was the last he was likely to attend, said Donley, who has accepted a position at Mapletown High School in the Southeastern Greene School District.

“We tend to focus on the negative, but as I go out the door, I want to remind all about the good things that have gone on in the district,” he said in his final board address.

Director Dan Wagner attributed strategies implemented in the classrooms by Donley over the years to the school achieving the highest performance profile score at 82.6 percent for an individual school recently — the highest in Greene County.

“I am very humbled by your selection, and I hope I can fill (Donley’s) shoes,” said Orr in addressing the board. “I hear wonderful things and cannot wait to start.”

Orr will take over the position as soon as he is released from his current position as principal of Deer Lakes High School in the Deer Lakes School District, said board President Lisa Mattish.

Orr comes on board with a $95,000 annual salary with benefits, and 153 sick days to be transferred from his previous employer upon verification, Mattish added.

“Orr brings 26 years of experience in education, and we look forward to his proven leadership,” she said.

Also at the meeting, directors voted to accept the resignation of head football coach William Ryan and to advertise to fill the position.