By THOMAS LUCKIE III

OGDENSBURG – Debate over the recently named Steven J. Barlow Track and Field Complex at Ogdensburg Free Academy continued at Monday’s Board of Education meeting, which also saw the board end up deadlocked in a 4-4 vote to reconsider the prior action on April 2 that originally approved the naming of the track after Barlow.

Aside from coaching track and field, Barlow was also a long-time math teacher and principal at OFA.

Dr. Diane Para, who graduated from OFA in 1982 and is program director of the Sports Management program at SUNY Canton, has championed a proposal to also include the name of Penny Raftis Sharrow and recognize girls track and field in the naming of the complex.

Both Barlow and Sharrow boast decades of involvement with track and field at OFA, among many other achievements and accolades. Sharrow, who is a retired physical education teacher, currently remains involved with track and field at OFA and coached spring boys modified track and field team in the recently completed 2018 season.

The citizen-driven proposal to include Sharrow’s name on the sign has been publicly backed by many former OFA student-athletes and a recently closed online petition garnered well over 10,000 signatures supporting the addition.

Board member Michael Tooley made a motion for the board to reconsider the original action to name the complex in recognition of Barlow as a necessary step before a potential new motion to also add Sharrow’s name, however the motion failed to carry in a 4-4 split. Board Vice President Michael Myers was not present at the meeting.

Tooley also stated that he wanted to speak to his “failure as a board member.”

“Both Coach Barlow and Coach Raftis Sharrow were caught in the middle of a problem we created and I believe each has suffered because of that and I regret that very much,” Tooley said.

Board member James King said he agreed with Tooley and stated that there was no reason that the names of Barlow and Sharrow couldn’t share the sign.

“We made a mistake, let’s make it right,” King said.

Sharrow opted to speak when comments were opened to citizens near the end of the meeting.

“No one likes that it’s gotten this far. I would have been proud to share the sign with Coach Barlow and I told him that,” Sharrow said.

“I just can’t wrap my head around the fact that it seemed like an easy decision to put a men’s coach on the sign and a yet a hard pill to swallow to put a female coach on that sign,” she added.

Sharrow also stated that she was thankful for and humbled by all the support from former athletes and others in the community who believe she made a difference.

Sharrow then said she was asked by an unnamed board member about the idea of two separate signs after a board meeting on Monday, June 4, which she thought was a good idea.

According to Sharrow, Barlow also proposed the creation of a stone archway with brick pillars and a sign honoring Sharrow, girls athletics and physical education when the two met privately sometime after the early June board meeting.

However, Sharrow said she was hesitant to embrace the idea due to the amount of fundraising likely required and the potential for more conflict due to boys not wanting to pass through such an archway and told Barlow that she would think about it.

Barbara Barlow, who is the wife of Steven Barlow, also offered some commentary on the situation.

Although she stated that her family was very proud of the honor, Barlow also said that she had stood by long enough while negative comments have been directed toward her husband both on social media and in person. She also accused Para of creating a “social media frenzy” as the orchestrator of the proposal.

“The process that this group has chosen has hurt our family deeply and has taken away from my husband and our family such a monumental honor and has ruined it,” Barbara Barlow said.

Barbara Barlow also accused Tooley, who is Para’s brother-in-law, of a conflict of interest for making a motion to potentially reverse the original decision to name the complex after Barlow.

According to Barbara Barlow, Sharrow and Steven Barlow met in person for over two hours to brainstorm ideas for mutual visual recognition at the track and field complex and claimed that Sharrow told Steven Barlow she would accept the proposed archway on three separate occasions.

Steven Barlow then set up a meeting with Johnson and Superintendent Timothy Vernsey that Sharrow failed to attend without adequately notifying the others, according to Barbara Barlow.

“She never showed up for the meeting, nor did she contact my husband, Mr. Vernsey or Mr. Johnson. She left a message at 7 p.m. Sunday night on the secretary’s voicemail,” Barbara Barlow said.

During her earlier comments, Sharrow stated that she was uncomfortable with the idea of attending such a meeting before discussing the idea with others involved with the proposal.

“So when her group talks her into turning down such an honor, there is no conclusion other than they have made this a woman vs. a man issue,” Barbara Barlow added.

Barbara Barlow ended her comments with a request for the board to stop this process once and for all, as it has hurt her family and ruined an honor for her husband.

Para, who said she had not originally planned to speak at the meeting, also elected to comment, marking the fourth consecutive meeting she has spoken to the board. 
“Diane, you have spoken to us many times on this, I hope it isn’t going to be the continuing insults and can we keep it to the point?” Board President Ronald Johnson said.

“The social media attacks were not orchestrated by anyone associated with me, I’m not on any kind of social media at all. Unfortunately that’s the way of social media,” Para said.

“This was in no way meant to take away the honor for Coach Barlow at all and I was very conscious and very aware of every statement I made publicly to make sure that was clear,” Para said.

Vernsey confirmed via email that no athletic facilities at OFA are currently named in recognition of females, while several athletic facilities are named after males.

“There are athletic awards named after females as well as several races at the Van Dusen,” Vernsey said.