MANSFIELD — As a long-time former football coach, Stan Jefferson knows something about momentum.
And it’s clear Jefferson, in his first year as superintendent for Mansfield City Schools, wants to keep rolling with the positive vibes from a highly successful football season.
Jefferson met with Richland County commissioners on Thursday to discuss a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. community celebration coming up Jan. 20 at the high school.
“Mansfield City Schools, along with our community partners from all throughout the community, we are all coming together under one theme, ‘We are all one community.’
“The key part is that last five letters of the last word … take them together, capitalize them … we are UNITY,” said Jefferson, joined at the meeting by Donna Hight, assistant dean of student life and student success at OSU-Mansfield, and Brigitte Coles, community engagement specialist for Richland County Children Services.
Jefferson chatted with commissioners about the success of the Mansfield Senior football team, which concluded a 13-2 season with a loss in the Division III state championship game on Dec. 6 in Canton at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.
The Tygers, along with the Lucas Cubs in Division VII, were the first Richland County schools to reach the state finals in football since Ohio began its playoff system 47 years ago.
Lucas also lost in the finals, but both teams and communities supported one another during the five-week playoff run, including a pep rally for both schools in downtown Mansfield during the week of the games.
“The enthusiasm of two communities, really all of Richland County, coming together was absolutely unbelievable,” Jefferson said. “We are trying to take the entire community of Mansfield and say, ‘We are one community’ and I think that piggybacks off of what happened with Lucas and Mansfield in football.”
On Jan. 20, when schools are not in session due to the MLK Day holiday, Jefferson said the entire community is invited to Mansfield Senior High School.
The event begins with a $5 breakfast from 8:30 to 9:30, after which attendees will move into the high school auditorium for a celebration until noon, which will include various community and school speakers, along with a performance by the school choir and presentations from elementary school students.
Jefferson said planned speakers include himself, the presidents of OSU-Mansfield and North Central State College, the principal of Mansfield Senior High School, the president of the Mansfield City School board, and the mayors of Mansfield and Ontario.
Jefferson said U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Mansfield native, and state Rep. Mark Romanchuk, R-Ontario, have also been invited.
The superintendent said one of his goals when he took over the district was engage the district with parents and the community.
“We are just so proud as we try to restore our roar. In order to do that, we want to be a part of everything going on in our community, from Mansfield Rising to the Imagination District, to everything that is going on at our universities,” Jefferson said.
“We want to be a part of what’s going on in Mansfield and we are going to do our part to try to connect,” Jefferson said.
Jefferson said he has spoken with the NAACP and the Mansfield Interdenominational Alliance about their MLK Day events. He said those events are planned om Jan. 18 and 19 and will not conflict with the district’s celebration.
Commissioner Marilyn John praised Jefferson for his public work in the community.
“I want to thank you for how much you have been out in the community,” John said. “Bringing the community together requires presence and you certainly have been present in many places. You are representing Mansfield City Schools very well.”
All three commissioners said they would attend the event at the high school.
