Write-in candidate Tommy Groshong elected to Knox ESC board

A Fredericktown parent will join the governing boardof the Knox Educational Service Center in January.

Tommy Groshong, 36, won a four-year term on the five-member board as a write-in candidate in the Nov. 4 general election.

“I was encouraged to run by family and friends,” said Groshong, a software consultant. “I am very excited to be involved and learn from current board members.”

Groshong said he and his wife, Yulia, are familiar with the preschool program operated by the Knox ESC. Their son, now a fourth-grader, attended the preschool in Mount Vernon. Their daughter, a second-grader, attended the preschool in Fredericktown.

“Our son is autistic so we are very aware of special needs programs and their importance to children. He has shown a lot of improvement,” Groshong said.

The Knox ESC also operates preschools in Centerburg and East Knox and the Knox Learning Center, a K-12 alternative school in Mount Vernon. In addition, the ESC vets and hires nearly 200 classroom aides for Knox County districts and provides other services as requested.

An active parent in Fredericktown Local Schools, Groshong was a student there through middle school before moving to St. Peter’s High School in Mansfield. 

“I still had lots of friends in Fredericktown while meeting new ones at St. Peter’s,” he said.

Groshong went on to graduate from Brigham Young University.

Although the ESC will be Groshong’s first official board position, he served on a team involved in the development of Springfield Sports Academy, a public charter school in Springfield, Ohio. 

“I was involved through my company while helping to get things started, then a local board took over,” he said.

Groshong will be sworn in at the ESC board meeting in January.

“I have no agenda or plans of my own,” he said. “I am looking forward to learning how I can contribute.”