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Room for meetings to be named Joyce Pogany Family Meeting Room
By ROBERT CONNELLY
AUSTINTOWN
School officials are adding a meeting room to Fitch High School and naming it after a longtime board member and Austintown activist.
The Joyce Pogany Family Meeting Room is a former storage room off the library at Fitch, 4650 Falcon Drive. The library has gone through renovations over the past year to become a media center.
Fitch Principal Chris Berni said this is the next step of that transformation.
“It’s all about re-purposing it so that collaboration among students, and students and teachers, is more of a focal point,” Berni said. “With 21st-century learning and all the technology we have today, there is no longer one definitive place.”
Barb Kliner, Austintown director of grants and fiscal services, said, “It’s more like a college environment, really.”
Pogany served on the Austintown Board of Education for 28 years, or seven-consecutive terms, and has been active in Austintown Rotary and other civic organizations in the township.
“I was overwhelmed. There’s no other way to say it,” she said. “It’s a great honor, and I’m just stunned.”
She continued, “Many, many years ago as a mother of five, I realized we have to do the very best for our children, and that’s what motivated me. ... I felt that there was a need to get people involved and truly love children.”
Pogany, who turns 80 this year, still is active in Austintown, including serving on the township’s historical society.
Kliner, former district treasurer, set up a bank account for the room for donations to complete furnishings for the space. Fitch freshmen counselor Marie Dockry said they are looking at a table, a dinette set, a shelf and some other additions to the room.
People who want to donate to finish the Joyce Pogany room are encouraged to call the Austintown Board of Education office, 330-797-3900.
Dockry said the idea started a few months ago and has since taken shape. Berni said maintenance workers painted the room and worked on the ceiling, lighting and installing a counter with a sink during Christmas break.
“The maintenance department for our district as well as our own custodial staff had a vested interest in this. They took great pride in making this room look the way it does cosmetically, and that goes back to them knowing who Joyce Pogany is and honoring her,” he said.
Dockry said the room works well for sensitive situations, having a side door that has quick access to exits from the building and the hallway next to the auditorium, which doesn’t attract as much foot traffic as other parts of the building. The room will accommodate between 10 and 12 people.
Pogany said of the room, “It will be a special place for the kids who need a little extra attention and love. ... There are certainly a lot of things going on in families, and if we can be of any help, certainly that’s what we’re all about.”
Dockry said there is a 12-person committee, including herself and Berni, and there are many groups involved with the room. Clubs sponsoring the room are Austintown Junior Women’s League, Austintown Rotary, Austintown Kiwanis, Austintown Growth Foundation, Austintown Parent Teacher Association and Austintown Band Parents.
There are a few chairs purchased through the Austintown Junior Women’s League. There are plans to have a plaque on the wall to commemorate sponsors, such as the organizations involved and donors, as well as details on Pogany’s service to the township.