Dr. Bill Dingus, executive director of the Lawrence Economic Development Corporation, shared pictures of construction progress and the planned final concept and color scheme for the STEM+M Academy with the Lawrence County Port Authority during their regular meeting on Tuesday morning.

Dingus told the port authority that the building in use, housed at The Point industrial park, should be finished by May 30.

Dingus said that the school has exceeded their enrollment needs, with 52 students currently enrolled for next school year. However, he acknowledged that there is still some community opposition to the school, which he thinks comes from a misunderstanding of what he sees as opportunities the STEM+M Academy can offer.

“It’s standard for the OEA (Ohio Education Association) and teachers to oppose anything that’s different from what you know,” Dingus said, in response to discussion of the opposition, including a recent letter to the editor co-signed by two Lawrence County public school teachers.
Dingus said he was familiar with the authors of that letter, Abby Fowler, of Ironton, and Amy Ferguson, from Kitts Hill, and called them, “wonderful teachers.”

“If they were all like them, you’d never even think about a STEM school,” Dingus said, noting their level of involvement.

However he said that traditional public schools don’t work for all students or teachers.

“Public schools, over the last two decades, have been mandated… to be social workers, law enforcement, and caseworkers,” Dingus said. “Half the time they’re filling out forms.”

Dingus said that unlike traditional public schools, which tie teachers’ hands with regulations, STEM schools are “giving teachers the opportunity to be professionals again.”

“We should help teachers move back to that, instead of doing paperwork all the time,” he said.

He said that his hope is that STEM schools can help refocus public schools on what matters in education.

“I think eventually the STEM schools will help (public schools) get better,” he said. “(Right now they’re) focused on input rather than output. They need to be focused on output.”

The port authority also discussed the future mall development, and search for tenants to fill that facility, the Brew Kettle, which Dingus said was “not far off,” and new developments at The Point and Haverhill, such as the HWI refractory development and GETH’s carbon black facility that could eventually employ up to 200 individuals.

In legislative action, the board voted to draft an easement for Jackie Fields’ new facility on Third Street in Ironton, at a cost of $1, and to approve the development of a parking lot, before entering into executive session to discuss issues.