In answer to a difficult week for Bowling Green students and the community, the city school district will
host a parents’ night in support of suicide awareness.
The intent is to helps parents know what signs to look for, how to have those difficult conversations and
what resources are available if something is suspect, said Superintendent Francis Scruci at Tuesday’s
board of education meeting.
The meeting is in response to the death of Eric Baer, a sophomore at the high school.
“First we had to deal with the loss of one of our students, which has caused a great deal of concern for
me, our staff and our administration,” he said.
Scruci thanked the Bowling Green Police Division, school staff and Children’s Resource Center counselors
“for helping us through a really difficult week.”
“These events leave us with many questions and very few answers,” he said. “Students are looking for
those answers. They struggle through this time.”
The date has not yet been set for the forum, but a public notice will go out.
Baer, a popular student at the high school who was on the cheer squad and lacrosse team, took his own
life in his family home April 7.
Also at the meeting, the board:
• Purchased two modular classrooms, one for Crim and one for Conneaut, for the 2019-20 school year. The
60-month lease will cost $1,600 per month with delivery and installation costs at $246,355.
• Purchased two Blue Bird 78-passenger buses with luggage compartments for $185,938 from Cardinal Bus
Sales and Service Inc.
• Learned as part of Volunteer Appreciation Week last week, more than 200 letters of appreciation were
sent out to the Bowling Green community.
“We cannot thank the people who volunteer in our schools enough,” Scruci said. ‘They make a difference.”

• Recognized six students who participated in the Youth Art Month and the Young Peoples Art Exhibition in
Columbus. Madison Bosworth, an eighth-grader, was the overall winner in the YAM contest, winning $1,000.

• Recognized three high school students who participated in the Ohio Junior Duck Stamp Contest. Etta
Gallaway, a junior, won Best of Show while Guo Wells-Jensen, a junior, took first place.
• Recognized high school swimmers Zane Kirchner, Darrin Kirchner, Jake Burroughs and CJ Layne for their
accomplishments in the league and at state this year.
• Accepted the retirements of Margaret Maidlow, Spanish teacher at the high school, who started in 1999,
and Ellyn Stout, English teacher at the high school, who started with the district in 1987. Both are
effective June 1.
• Recognized All-State Children’s Choir participants Lexie Bechstein, Corinna Kramer, Julia Barnett, Tess
Challu, Finley Hughes and Cole Boswell.
• Accepted the retirement of Conneaut Elementary Principal James Lang, effective July 1. He has been
principal since 2012.
• Accepted gifts of $50 to the middle school art department, $1,575 to the Class of ‘73 Scholarship Fund,
$368 for the fourth and fifth grade trip to the Mud Hens, $1,000 to the 2019-20 fifth-grade camp,
$1,061.46 to replace the stand mixer in the cafeteria, $24 for the Katie Burris Learning Center class
field trip, $100 to 1BookBG, $200 to the commencement fund, $4,500 to the AMVETS Post 711 scholarship,
and $846 to Crim fifth-grade camp.