ACOVSD Suprintendent Richard Seas and two of his family members were seriously injured in a Sept. 29 car accident near Columbus. (Defender File Photo)
ACOVSD Suprintendent Richard Seas and two of his family members were seriously injured in a Sept. 29 car accident near Columbus. (Defender File Photo)

Accident remains under investigation – 

By Patricia Beech – 

Adams County Ohio Valley School District Superintendent Richard Seas has been released from the Grant Medical Center in Columbus where he was treated for a severe concussion following an automobile crash on Saturday morning, Sept. 29.
Seas was traveling with his wife, Lorna, and their minor son to watch one of their children compete in a high school cross-country meet.
At press time, Mrs. Seas remains in critical condition at the Grant Medical Center. The couple’s son suffered a back injury and was rushed to surgery at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus where he is now awake and recuperating.
ACOVSD Board President Judy Campbell posted news of the crash on social media.
“It is with a heavy heart that the Adams County/Ohio Valley School Board contacts you following a serious automobile accident that involved Mr. Seas, his wife and son on Saturday, September 29, 2018,” she wrote. “We appreciate the prayers and concerns of our staff and the community on behalf of the Seas family.”
At a special meeting Sunday, the school board members asked OVSD Personnel Director Greg Grooms, to “act on the district’s behalf temporarily or until Mr. Seas returns”.
“We could not take up school until we had a superintendent in place,” Campbell told the Defender in a phone interview on Monday. She said no further action will be taken until after the board meets in regular session on Oct. 18.
Grooms says he will work with the entire ACOVSD staff to ensure the district’s needs are met.
“I understood Mr. Seas’ expectations and how his decision making was always placing the best interest of students first,” Grooms wrote in an email to the Defender.  “That was always my position when I was principal, and I appreciate the Board having the confidence in my abilities.”
Grooms also said he had received numerous offers of support from the ACOVSD staff and asks that everyone keep the Seas family in their prayers.
The accident remains under investigation by the Ohio Highway State Patrol.