By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
After 33 years in public education, Scott Best was eyeing retirement. Then came an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.
On Tuesday evening, Bowling Green Board of Education hired Best as the new principal for Crim Elementary School.
“This is a great opportunity. I’m really looking forward to it,” Best said after the board meeting.
Best, who lives in Bowling Green with his wife, has heard rave reviews about the staff at Crim Elementary.
“I’ve heard their staff is phenomenal,” he said. “They work hard to put kids first,” and give them the tools they need to succeed.
Best sees his job as principal to first get to know the staff, parents and kids. And then build on the successes of the school. He will be filling the seat formerly held by Zeb Kellough.
Best began his career in education as a fourth grade teacher at Buckeye Valley Schools. From there, he became an elementary principal at Ridgemont Schools, then a fifth-sixth grade principal in the Delaware School District.
Most recently, Best served as principal in the Perrysburg district, with 10 years at Fort Meigs, then eight years at Hull Prairie.
Best acknowledged that the demographics of students at Crim Elementary are different from those in the more affluent Perrysburg district. But he is comfortable with the Crim demographics, having grown up in Arlington, and working at Buckeye Valley which is similar.
Also at Tuesday’s board meeting, Bowling Green resident Lee Hakel spoke about the need for the district to grasp this moment.
“Our schools are now in a good place,” with a new high school under construction, a levy passed for operating expenses, and a good superintendent and treasurer at the helm. Now principals and teachers can focus on educating children, she said.
Hakel suggested that the school district take advantage of hands-on learning – such as taking students to area museums, having students talk to construction workers at the new high school, and learn about the new geothermal system heating and cooling the school. Try new ways of learning.
“Some apple carts need to be overturned,” she said. “Inspiration is caught, not taught.”
Hakel encouraged BG educators to not get weighted down by the minutiae.
“Make Bowling Green renowned for excellence in education. This is the time to make that happen,” she said.
In other business, Superintendent Ted Haselman gave an update on the high school construction.
“The project continues to ramp up,” with 131 of the 140 vertical geothermal wells being drilled. “We only have nine more to go,” Haselman said.
The best news has been the bids recently received for the new school’s structural steel and concrete. Those bids came in as projected.
“So I can sleep at night,” he said. “We continue to remain on budget.”
Haselman noted the fencing around the project, and the change to traffic patterns for student drop off and pick up at the high school and middle school. Efforts are being made to minimize disruption, but Haselman asked for patience and understanding over the next two years of construction.
Also at the meeting, Treasurer Matt Feasel reported on the district’s budget – with expenditures coming in at 4% under projections, and revenue slightly above the forecast.
Haselman talked about the district’s continued efforts to increase transparency and communication with residents of the district, through social media, electronic newsletters, printed newsletters, bi-weekly radio spots on the Morning Show, and the new “Quality Profile” publication.
“Bowling Green City Schools does a lot of great things. We have a lot to boast about,” he said.
The newest effort will be district calendars that will be sent out next month. The publications are being sponsored by Wood County Hospital, Bowling Green State University, and Newlove Realty.
