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LORAIN COUNTY
AMHERST NEWS-TIMES • OBERLIN NEWS-TRIBUNE • WELLINGTON ENTERPRISE Thursday, July 28, 2022
Submit items to news@LCnewspapers.com
Volume 9, Issue 30
Faircloth gets Police shoot knife-wielding man $44K pay raise in JVS contract JASON HAWK EDITOR
JASON HAWK EDITOR
PITTSFIELD TWP. — Glenn Faircloth is getting a $44,000 per year raise to continue as superintendent of the Lorain County JVS through 2028. The vocational school’s Board of Education voted last Thursday night to give him a five-year contract extension starting next summer. It will raise Faircloth’s annual pay by 25 percent, from $130,000 to $174,213 per year plus fringe benefits. Board President Deborah Melda calculated the deal to be worth $211,000 per year. Anne Schaum, who represents the Oberlin City Schools on the JVS board, supported the contract extension and pay increase “for the sake of the students.” She said Faircloth has greatly increased the number of graduates sent into the workforce each year with a knowledge of the trades and technical fields. Glenn “He has managed a very compliFaircloth cated system quite effectively – and you’re right, we pay top dollar for that,” she said. Annie Carstarphen, who represents Elyria on the board, said Faircloth is “a household name” who is respected and admired by students who want to follow in his footsteps. “I feel that he’s doing a wonderful job here at the JVS. I feel that he’s doing a wonderful job in the community. People look up to him,” she said. The board voted 11-1 to approve the new contract, which will go into effect Aug. 1, 2023. The lone detractor was Wellington Schools representative Ayers Ratliff, who over the years has pulled no punches when it comes to his opinion of Faircloth. He laid bare new criticisms Thursday about the superintendent’s leadership, blaming Faircloth for everything from staff vacancies to what he perceives as a lack of curriculum development. Ratliff talked about a bullying incident that allegedly happened late this past school year, in which a student wearing an animal tail accessory had it pulled from their uniform. He shared the same story earlier in the week in a Wellington Board of Education meeting. At neither time did Ratliff voice concern for the victim. Instead, he was angry that Faircloth allowed students to accessorize. “To spend that kind of money on uniforms and then add tails and ears, kids that want to wear them, is just FAIRCLOTH PAGE A3 Classifieds, legals, display advertising, and subscriptions Deadline: 1 p.m. each Monday Phone: 440-329-7000 Hours: 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday
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Wellington police officer Kayla Chrosniak uses a stun gun on Scott Bakker after he approached officers Saturday evening with a knife. The electrical charge didn’t slow Bakker at all, according to body camera footage released Monday.
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SHOOTING PAGE A2
WHAT’S ALL THE RACQUET?
Photos by Bruce Bishop | Wellington Enterprise
Is there anything more satisfying than giving a tennis ball a good whack? Kids got a little free instruction in the sport Thursday, July 21 at the Lorain County Community College Wellington Center. The event was sponsored by LCCC and USTA Midwest-Northeastern Ohio. ABOVE: Jhonny Dalton, 11, focuses as he tries to hit the photographer with the ball.
Elementary renamed for Oberlin activist JASON HAWK EDITOR
CLEVELAND — About 250 elementary students on the city’s west side will start the academic year at a neighborhood school newly-renamed in honor of a civil rights champion with ties to Oberlin. The Mary Church Terrell School at 3595 Bosworth
Rd. was one of three renamed in a June 28 vote by the Cleveland Metropolitan School District Board of Education. The changes come after the district decided to take a closer look at the legacies of its school namesakes, some of whom owned slaves and others who advanced anti-equality beliefs. A directive from the
school board said it would not allow names of people “who have documented history of enslaving other humans, or have actively participated in the institution of slavery, systemic racism and the oppression of people of color, women, other minority groups or people who have been a member of a supremacist organization.” In part, the effort was
a response to criticisms raised by Cleveland City Councilmembers Kevin Conwell and Brian Mooney after the killing of George Floyd in 2020, and the marches that resulted across the nation. “We will not tolerate the honoring of racists in our precious schools,” said Conwell, who is Black. RENAMED PAGE A3
INSIDE THIS WEEK
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WELLINGTON — Body camera footage shows the moment Scott Bakker was shot by a Wellington police officer Saturday evening, and the minutes that followed as police tried to stop the bleeding. Bakker, 37, was raging when officer Kayla Chrosniak and a second patrolman arrived at 419 Courtland St. shortly after 6 p.m. “He wanted to have some kind of confrontation, and we didn’t see the need to have a confrontation,” Police Chief Tim Barfield said
during a news conference Monday at Town Hall. Police had been called to the home on the village’s south side three times earlier in the day, Barfield said. The fourth time was violent from the start, according to the video footage, which was recorded by Chrosniak’s body camera. “Want some? Come get it,” Bakker yelled from inside his house when police arrived, then threw a piece of furniture through a window. Police complied when he yelled at them to get back, then Bakker exited and started berating officers
Amherst
Oberlin
Wellington
Operation Open Heart takes kids on a wild ride • B3
County auditor, schools may wage fight over NEXUS • B3
Budweiser Clydesdales will visit the county fair • B1
OBITUARIES A2 • CLASSIFIEDS A4 • CROSSWORD B2 • SUDOKU B2 • KID SCOOP B6