Sugarcreek, Ohio - The Garaway school community is mourning the loss of Board of Education member Daniel Fearon, who succumbed to an extended illness overnight. His passing came just hours before his colleagues were due to accept his resignation.
During a somber meeting Wednesday morning, the board accepted Fearon’s resignation due to declining health.
In his letter of resignation dated November 5th, Fearon wrote:
“As you may already know, my health has been in a state of decline since January. Despite a hard fight, my body has not responded to the treatment as we had hoped. Because of this situation, I feel that it is in the best interest of both myself and of the Garaway Schools if I step down from the board.”
Fearon went on to thank his fellow board members and administration for their prayers and stated that he had great hopes of becoming well enough to return to the board.
Speaking on behalf of the district, Superintendent Jim Millet expressed heartfelt condolences to Fearon’s family and gratitude for Fearon’s contributions to the district during his six-year tenure.
“I would like to publicly with everybody here acknowledge how much we appreciate what Mr. Fearon did for the district. He definitely will be missed, and I know he cared very much about this district,” he said.
Millet said that during Fearon’s time on the board, he worked passionately to improve learning conditions for Garaway students and was instrumental in establishing a regular maintenance and improvement schedule for the district’s buildings.
He said Fearon was just as willing to work side by side with school personnel as he was to develop policy in a boardroom and that the district will miss not only his involvement but also his positive attitude and encouragement behind the scenes.
Millet said that under state law, the board must wait a minimum of 10 days to appoint someone to fill the vacancy until the next General Election.
“They will, during that time, have some discussions about how they want to do that,” he said.
STACEY CARMANY, TUSCO TV