BRADFORD — The Bradford Board of Education accepted the donation of train replica during its meeting on Monday evening.
Richard Ayres of North Hampton donated the replica 1901 STP train front valued at $10,000 to the district.
“Mr. Ayres is a longtime friend of education,” Superintendent Joe Hurst said.
Hurst said Ayres was a former school board member in the Northwestern School District where Hurst worked as an agriculture teacher for more than 12 years.
Hurst said Ayres offered the train to Bradford Schools over the summer.
The train is 9 feet, 9 inches tall, 8 feet wide and 6 feet deep. The largest door that the school has is 6 feet by 7 feet, so the district is looking into deconstructing some of the train and reconstructing inside the school building.
“We’re overcoming those obstacles,” Hurst said.
There is also the option of displaying the train outside, which Hurst said it could handle, but there were concerns of possible vandalism.
Hurst also briefly updated the board on the high school’s football program. At Bradford’s last football game, the Railroaders had 13 players dress for the game. They have two additional players who were injured and unable to play in addition to another possible player getting acclimated to being on the team.
He also commented on a new proposal from the Cross County Conference.
“Today, the CCC rolled out a new proposal or a new draft of the constitution for a team that would withdrawal out of the conference and not finish the season,” Hurst said. “I’ll say I’m a little disappointed in the punitive measures they put forth at this point.”
Hurst said currently, if a football team does not finish the season, there is a $1,000 penalty with each away game it does not play up to a maximum of $5,000 and the team also is suspended from the conference for three seasons, including the season that it does not finish.
“They’re looking to increase that fee from $1,000 to $3,000 for away games and home games would be roughly $1,000. The penalty would move from three year withdrawal from the CCC to five years withdrawal from the CCC,” Hurst said, reiterating that this is currently still only a new proposal from the CCC.
Later during the meeting, the board approved advertising for bids for a new school bus. The board authorized the Southwestern Ohio Educational Purchasing Council to advertise and receive bids on the board’s behalf as per the specifications submitted for the cooperative purchase of one school bus.
During its student spotlight, the board honored elementary school students Carson Maxwell and Piper Burgett. Maxwell was described as a positive student, a role model to his peers and always willing to help others. Burgett also was described as a helpful student and role model who is polite with a great attitude.
The board also honored freshman Aiden Beachler, who scored an 806 on his state science test last spring, along with eighth grade student Logan Daugherty, who scored an 806 on his state math test last spring.
