Beechwood Board of Education chair Ron Savignano has announced his resignation, according to a letter the superintendent sent to families on Dec. 20.
The letter was sent nine days after a Beechwood parent called for an investigation into an alleged incident in October in which she said Savignano overdosed and had to be revived with Narcan.
“This morning, Dr. Ron Savignano informed me that he was resigning from the Beechwood Board of Education due to personal and health concerns,” Superintendent Mike Stacy wrote in the Dec. 20 letter. “This action won’t become effective until the Board of Education votes to accept the resignation at the January board meeting.”
Jeanne Berger, the board’s vice chair, will assume the duties of chair until the process begins to appoint a new board member. That process should begin Jan. 9, Stacy wrote, when he will contact the commissioner’s office to inform them of the board vacancy.
“I’d personally like to thank Dr. Savignano for his work over the past 12 years,” Stacy wrote. “The progress of the District has been significant, and he was part of the decision-making process that led to those outcomes.”
At the board of education meeting on Dec. 11, Laura Boyd spoke during the public comment section. Boyd told the board she has four kids — two graduated from Beechwood and two who are graduating in the spring.
Savignano was present at the meeting.
“I am here to address the issue of our board chair and an incident that occurred on Oct. 17 around 10 p.m. at Dickman’s in Fort Wright where he was found unresponsive and subsequently received doses of Narcan for an apparent overdose,” Boyd said at the meeting. “I am proud to say that we have a very successful drug free program that is encouraged for students and athletes to be members of, yet we don’t hold our board members to the same standards. We wouldn’t tolerate this behavior from a student, from a teacher, from the administration, and our board should be no exception.”
Boyd went on to say that she recognizes there needs to be proof by way of medical documentation and that she is unable to obtain such proof because of HIPPA laws.
“However,” she said, “it seems that the burden of proof lies on our board chair if he wants to remain on the board in any capacity.”
Boyd called for Savignano to be removed temporarily from the board pending further investigation.
“If he has nothing to hide, this request should not be an issue,” Boyd said. “If documents show that these allegations are false, he would be reinstated at that time.”
Boyd went on to say that she has always been proud to be part of the Beechwood family and that she trusts the situation would be handled appropriately.
“As long as Dr. Savignano remains on the board, the board has zero credibility,” Boyd said. “There is no way to know that the decisions he is approving for our students are made of sound mind.”
Savignano did not respond to the allegations during the meeting.
Stacy declined to comment for this story. LINK nky reached out to Savignano, but we have not heard back from him as of publication of this story.
