Press Release 

November 30, 2023

 

The Fairview Independent School District would like to welcome Alex Roy as the Head Football Coach of the Eagles. Alex is originally from Westwood, where he lived for 10 years before moving to Ceredo, WV.  

 

Mr. Roy is a 2016 graduate of Fairview High School. In 4 years at Fairview, he was a multi-sport athlete in playing football, basketball, and baseball. Alex went on to play college football for Marshall University and The University of Virginia’s College at Wise, before hanging up his cleats to pursue coaching. Alex credits his desire to coach from his time playing and being mentored under coaches, Fred Ray, Bruce Gibson, Chris Williams, Carl Ward, Brent Wilcoxon, and also his grandfather, Barry Scragg. 

 

Mr. Roy is stepping into his first year as a Head Coach. In all, he has 6 years of coaching experience, all with Fairview. He spent 2 years at the middle school level as an offensive coordinator under his father, and 4 years at the high school level as a Wide Receivers, Quarterbacks, and Defensive Backs coach. Alex has also spent time coaching basketball and baseball at both the middle and high school levels for Fairview.  

 

Mr. Roy is excited to take the reigns and step in as a Head Coach. Mr. Roy stated, “It has been a long-time dream of becoming the Head Coach for Fairview High School. I’m ready to get to work and turn this program around for this community, this school district, and our kids. There is no place I’d rather be than right here with our Eagle Family.” 

 

There will be a meet and greet in the Fairview High School Cafeteria at 5:30 PM on Wednesday, December 6, 2023, in the Middle/High cafeteria to introduce Coach Roy. Light refreshments will be served. 

 

 

Great news!  The Big Smiles in-school dentist is coming to the Elementary on Monday, October 30th, and the Middle School and High School on Tuesday, October 31st.  Even better, dental care is usually at no cost to you.  All insurance is accepted including Medicaid and KCHIP.  Keep your Child healthy, in-school and learning.  Sign up online NOW at www.myschooldentist.com.

 

The Fairview Independent School District would like to welcome Jessica Thomas as the Head Archery Coach of the Eagles. Jessica and her husband have three kids Nevaeh, 13, Channon, 11 and Leeland, 9. Jessica is a member of Flatwoods First Baptist Church in Flatwoods and along with archery, enjoys designing t-shirts in her spare time. 

Coach Thomas is a 2005 graduate of Raceland-Worthington High School. She has worked with the Raceland Elementary Archery team for the last two years helping them work on stance, anchoring and aiming. During this time, the team has qualified for State, National and World tournaments. 

Coach Thomas is excited to join the Eagles as Head Coach. She states “I’m passionate about archery and I’m excited to help build this program up and help the kids grow as great archers. Fairview has a great program, community and district and I’m ready to see this program take off and soar.” 

The Fairview Independent School District would like to welcome Brian Deer as the Head Girls Basketball Coach of the Eagles.  Brian and his wife Lori, are natives of Ironton, Ohio.  Brian and Lori have two daughters Kylie, 22 and Peyton, 17.   

Mr. Deer is a 1986 graduate of Rock Hill Senior High. Where he played Basketball and Baseball and was President of his class. Brian graduated from the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy in 1989 and worked at the county and state level in law enforcement until his retirement in 2002. 

Mr. Deer has 2 years of head coaching experience. Two years at the Ohio Department of Youth Services. Mr. Deer has been an Assistant Coach for ten years the last three have been as the Ironton High Girls JV Coach. 

Mr. Deer is enthusiastic and grateful for the opportunity to lead and grow the Fairview Girls Basketball Program. “I have a passion for basketball. However, I have a greater passion to be a positive influence on the lives young people. I believe sport provides a great template for young people to develop necessary life skills." 

There will be a meet and greet in the Fairview High School Cafeteria on Wednesday, October 11, 2023 at 5:30 PM to introduce Mr. Deer to our Fairview Family. Light refreshments will be served. 

 

Jackie Risden-Smith 

Superintendent

Fairview Independent Schools 

 

 

Some key factual points to summarize the attachments:

• The purpose of this nickel tax is to allow funding of a project at the baseball/softball/football fields that provides our students and community adequate facilities. #FutureFocused
• For those new to the district, the purpose of the nickel tax in 2018 was to pay off bond debt to allow our district to maintain operations and continue to be an independent school district serving our students.
• Communication and transparency about planning for a nickel tax has been in place with stakeholders since the nickel tax in 2018.
• The Board of Education has not increased the tax rate in Westwood since the 2018 nickel was billed to our tax payers. Most districts increase taxes regularly and take the 4% rate allowable without a possible recall or equalization of state funding ( this year alone, if the Board of Education had increased taxes without a possible recall, we would have only received 1.3 cents less than what could be received by the nickel tax this year).
• If the local community recalls the nickel tax, only 1.1 cents is recallable but we would be giving up possible funding from the state that we've received on all previous nickels. Typically, a higher amount is recallable, but only 1.1 cents is recallable because the Board of Education hasn't increased taxes since the 2018 nickel. 
• If the Board of Education had increased the tax rate, it would have resulted in an additional $219,174 to date, however the burden would have been entirely on our Westwood community without an opportunity for state equalization match (evidence of fiscal responsibility and future focused planning).
• In 2018, our contingency (savings account) had barely met the 2% contingency required by the state for several years. Our balance was $227,434. For FY 2023, our balance was $2,602,402. Of this amount, $608,439 is funding received by the state because of our nickel in 2018. Our 2018 nickel is fully equalized and we are receiving $225,735 annually from the state and $93,997 annually from local tax payers. Our contingency has increased 1.8 million aside from the last nickel funding. It was crucial to our survival as a district and allowed our district financial turnaround.
• While creating a healthy contingency savings account, the district has significantly increased outcomes to live our belief statement of giving our students our best. Some examples of this include funding spent on the following:

  • - We have increased  district-wide staffing from 88 employees to 108 employees (more than a 20% increase in educators in our district, with central office having the same number of employees in 2023 as 2018, it should be noted that there are more certified and less classified when comparing 2018 and 2023 because more certified staff at the district level was a necessary system change to allow both certified and classified the balance needed at the district level to improve outcomes for students). An increase in educators is crucial to improved outcomes in the education of our students and our district's success in the future.

    - Facility improvements around energy savings, safety, and overall operations of custodian and maintenance staff. As our belief statement says... giving students our best.

    - We have purchased one new bus and have one on the way. We have purchased an expedition, accessible van, and maintenance truck. This is after years of not investing in transportation on a set schedule. Transportation significantly impacts opportunity for our students. 

    - Honestly, this list could go on but I have a noon deadline I put on myself for getting this email out to you :)

 

Presentation link with dates if you want attend: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YX8WEf6SAQJPsQPoUnSuHs0Zqrky6edd/view?usp=sharing

Q & A Document: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ejVihrV4PG_I9mdPDoyLrge2bbhX9fDg/view?usp=sharing

 

Thank you for giving your best to our students. They are very fortunate to have you in their lives. Please let me know if you have any questions. 

 

 

Jackie Risden-Smith 

Superintendent

Fairview Independent Schools 

 

As a team, we will be difference makers in the lives of our students by giving each child our best in everything we do.