WVSBA The Legislature

March 31, 2006 - Volume 25 / Issue 18

Overview Info

Stats

2006 Regular Session: Adjourned Sine Die
Bills Introduced:
(includes 644 House carryover
bills)		 2,301

Education Bills (WVSBA count includes carryover bills)

 403

Education Bills Adopted:                    
(including higher education bills)

 18

Inside

 

Quote: “Teachers are extremely upset because of the large pay raises that were given to the governor’s staff, and to not have any money for education employees is something they don’t understand….” – Judy Hale, president of the West Virginia Federation of Teachers, discussing the legislative session and the fact school employees did not receive a pay increase.

 

NEWS

By Hank Hager
Senate Education Committee Counsel 

These are the education-related state Senate and House of Delegates bills adopted during the 2006 regular legislative session. Senate bills are listed first, with higher education-related bills listed last.

Senate Bill 53 - Additional funding for school nurse positions - This bill provides for a distribution to counties of appropriations that may be made to support the school health service needs that exceed a certain established capacity; to the extent funds are available, gives counties funding for nurse positions sufficient to meet a ratio of one school nurse for every 1,500 students in grades PreK-12, less existing nurses employed during the 2005-06 school year; and eliminates the authority of the Commissioner of the Bureau for Public Health to promulgate a rule to implement certain training and create certain standards and gives that authority to the State Board of Education. There are three Senate sponsors, including lead sponsor Sen. Jon Blair Hunter, D-Monongalia.

SB 127 - Regional Education Service Agencies -  This bill caps the School Aid Formula Foundation Allowance for RESAs at $4.2 million; and requires the state superintendent to conduct a comprehensive study of the programs, governance and administration of the RESAs. Sponsored By Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, D-Logan, and Senate Minority Leader Vic Sprouse, R-Kanawha.

SB 635 - Requiring boards of education maintain certain flood insurance -This bill requires county boards to maintain flood insurance on buildings if: (1) the building is within the 100-year flood plain and has a replacement value greater than $300,000; or (2) the building has been damaged in a previous flood and flood insurance is required by Federal Emergency Management Administration. The legislation also requires flood insurance on the contents of those buildings.  Both the buildings and the contents are required to be insured at the maximum amount available through the National Flood Insurance Program or the estimated replacement value, whichever is less. There are 11 Senate sponsors, including lead sponsor Sen. Larry Edgell, D-Wetzel.

SB 783 - Salary supplements for certain professional personnel with advanced certification – This bill extends the salary supplement and expense reimbursement for teachers with National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification to speech-language pathologists, audiologists and counselors with certain advance certifications, subject to appropriation; limits the number of speech-language pathologists, audiologists and counselors eligible for reimbursement to 100, combined total, in any one fiscal year; limits the number to be paid the salary supplement to an additional 100, combined total, for each fiscal year; and defines completion for the purpose of reimbursing each teacher who completes the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification. There are seven Senate sponsors, including lead sponsor Sen. Bob Plymale, D-Wayne, Senate Education Chairman.

SB 785 - School physical education requirements -  This bill changes the language prescribing physical education requirements for the different grade levels from three specific grade level ranges to the more general categories of AElementary school grades,@ AMiddle school grades@ and AHigh school grades@; requires the State Board of Education to promulgate a rule relating to reporting and use of body mass index (BMI) data in public schools which must include the requirement that the data be collected on a scientifically drawn sample of students and certain other provisions; and allows schools which would have to significantly alter academic offerings to meet the physical education requirements to develop alternate programs. There are eight Senate sponsors, including lead sponsor Sen. Plymale.

House Bills

House Bill 2528 – relating to establishment of individual diabetes care plans for students with diabetes by county boards of education – This bill requires the state Board of Education to adopt guidelines for the development and implementation of individual diabetes care plans on or before Jan. 1, 2007. It also requires each county board to adopt a diabetes care plan meeting the guidelines for diabetes care plans adopted by the West Virginia Board of Education; requires the WVBE to report to the Legislature regarding adoption of the guidelines and the establishment and implementation of diabetes care plans by county boards. There are seven House sponsors, including lead sponsor Del. Ken Tucker, D-Marshall.

 House Bill 4406 - Removing the requirement to evaluate certain classroom teachers at least every three years - This bill provides that classroom teachers with five or more years of classroom experience who have not had an unsatisfactory rating are required to be evaluated or required to have a professional growth and development plan only when the principal determines it to be necessary for a particular classroom teacher. The existing provision allowing a classroom teacher to be evaluated at more frequent intervals remains. There are eight House sponsors, including lead sponsor Del. David Perry, D-Fayette.

HB 4491 - Establishing the third week of October as Disability History Week for the State of West Virginia - This bill designates the third week of October annually as Disability History Week; requires that instruction on disability history, people with disabilities and the disability rights movement be integrated into the existing school curriculum; and includes other provisions relating to increasing awareness and understanding of the history and contributions of people with disabilities. House Speaker Bob Kiss, D-Raleigh, and House Education Committee Chairman Tom Campbell, D-Greenbrier, sponsored the measure.

HB 4625 - Extending certain authority to professional personnel designee of school principal - For the purposes of the two sections  relating to student discipline, the bill defines Aprincipal@ as the principal, assistant principal, vice principal or the administrative head of the school or a professional personnel designee of the principal or the administrative head of the school. The effect is to allow the other persons listed in the definition to take the place of the principal in meeting the requirements in the two sections relating to exclusion from the classroom, suspension, expulsion, etc. There are three House sponsors, including lead sponsor Del. Campbell.

HB 4626 - Including nonpublic schools in state student teaching programs - This bill allows, beginning this fall, an institution of higher education to provide an alternate student teaching experience in a nonpublic school setting if the institution of higher education meets certain requirements set forth in the bill; allows an institution of higher education to provide an alternate student teaching experience in a nonpublic school setting for the Spring 2006 academic term only notwithstanding any other provisions if the institution is approved for educator preparation by the State Board and the institution had entered into the agreement for that academic term prior to the bill=s effective date; and includes other provisions relating to student teaching. Sponsored by Speaker Kiss.

Higher Education Bills

SB 18 - Tuition waivers to children and spouses of parole and probation officers killed in line of duty - This bill requires state institutions of higher education to grant tuition and fee waivers for children and spouses of parole officers and probation officers killed in the line of duty if space is available. There are six Senate sponsors, including lead sponsor Sen. Billy Wayne Bailey, D-Wyoming.

SB 32 - Educational opportunities for children of military personnel -  This bill expands the number of children eligible for certain tuition waivers and allocations to include certain children of those who served in the U.S. armed forces at any time during which the reserve components are called to active duty by the president for the purpose of entering into armed combat; increases the age limit for eligibility from 22 to 25; increases the limit on the allocation to eligible applicants from $500 per year to $2,000 per year; and includes numerous other provisions. There are six Senate sponsors, including lead sponsor Sen. Randy White, D-Webster.

SB 587 - Increment pay for certain higher education faculty - This bill provides that any full-time faculty member who is an employee of a state institution of higher education, the higher Education Policy Commission or the West Virginia Council for Community and Technical College Education and has three or more years of service will receive the $50 annual experience increment. There are eight Senate sponsors, including lead sponsor Sen. Larry Edgell, D-Wetzel.

SB 792 - Merging Fairmont State Community and Technical College with Fairmont State University; renaming Community and Technical College of Shepherd - This bill merges Fairmont State Community and Technical College with Fairmont State University (FSU) and renames it Pierpont Community and Technical College; requires FSU to adhere to all statutory requirements for delivery of community and technical college education except independent accreditation status; ties the existence of Pierpont Community and Technical College to the standard statutory sunset provisions; sets forth certain conditions and provides that if the conditions are not met that Pierpont division must become independently accredited by January 1, 2011; renames Shepherd Community and Technical College as Blue Ridge Community and Technical College; provides a four-year average cap on tuition and fee increases of 7.5 percent  beginning July 1, 2007 for all Higher Education Policy Commission institutions and provides exceptions to the cap; and includes numerous other provisions. Sen. Mike Oliverio, D-Monongalia, sponsored the measure.

House Bills

HB 4049 – State-funded student financial aid - This bill, which becomes effective July 1, prohibits more than one of the at-large members of the Higher Education Policy Commission (HEPC) from being from the same county; removes the requirement for the HEPC to designate up to 15 percent of personnel as the chancellor=s support staff; provides a four-year average cap on tuition and fee increases of 7.5 percent for all HEPC institutions (with some exceptions); creates a Student Financial Aid Advisory Board to advise concerning all state-level financial aid programs; changes the membership of the Promise scholarship board; assigns additional responsibilities to the Promise board, including to operate as a merit-based program, to raise academic requirements before taking other steps to limit awards, and to track Promise graduates; requires the Promise board to recommend a rule to the HEPC for promulgation to implement the provisions of the Promise article; provides legislative intent to appropriate additional funds for the Promise scholarship and the West Virginia Higher Education Grant Program over the next four years; and includes numerous other provisions. There are 11 House sponsors, including lead sponsor Del. Campbell.

HB 4240 - Changing the name of the Community and Technical College of Shepherd to Blue Ridge Community and Technical College -  This bill renames the Community and Technical College of Shepherd as Blue Ridge Community and Technical College; sets forth provisions that apply only to the boards of governors of Fairmont State University, Marshall University, West Virginia State University and West Virginia University; provides that each of those governing boards may be recognized as a single organization within the financial systems of the state and the entities under its jurisdiction are designated as subordinate organizations, if practicable; provides that each of those governing boards must operate a single student financial aid office for all two- and four-year students unless the board expressly determines that another arrangement is clearly more efficient and effective; and provides that each of those governing boards must use a single set of technology solutions to minimize the complexity of administrative operations for two- and four-year students unless the board expressly determines that another arrangement is clearly more efficient and effective. There are three House sponsors, including lead sponsor Del. Locke Wysong, D-Jefferson.

HB 4603 - Authorizing rules for the HEPC and the West Virginia Council for Community and Technical College Education regarding authorization of degree-granting institutions - This bill authorizes rules for the HEPC and WVCCTCE relating to degree-granting institutions. The measure was sponsored by Dels. Campbell and Larry A. Williams, D-Preston. Williams is House Education Vice Chairman.

HB 4690 - Making West Virginia University Institute of Technology a division of West Virginia University -  This bill provides for the West Virginia University Institute of Technology (WVUIT) to become a fully integrated division of West Virginia University (WVU) by July 1, 2007; renames the Board of Advisors of WVUIT the Board of Visitors; provides that the chair of the Board of Visitors serves as a voting member of the WVU Board of Governors; creates a West Virginia Consortium for Undergraduate Research and Engineering (WV-CURE); directs WV-CURE to develop Collaborative Engineering Strategic Plan; renames Shepherd Community and Technical College as Blue Ridge Community and Technical College; moves the Workforce Initiative Program from the supervision of the Development Office to the West Virginia Council for Community and Technical College Education; and includes numerous other provisions. The measure was sponsored by Dels. Perry and John Pino, both D-Fayette.

For more information on legislation, refer to the Administrative Perspective.

 

This is a list of education-related bills that failed to make it through the 2006 Regular Session, although they had passed either the House or Senate. Many measures died the last day of the session, March 11.

Senate Bills

House Bills

For a review of these bills, refer to past issues The Legislature.

 

 

Administrative Perspective

2006 session was more ‘reactive’ than productive
While grievance procedure makeover failed, issue remains alive

By Martha Dean, Ed.D., Executive Director
West Virginia Association of School Administrators

Now is the time to reflect about the 2006 Legislative Session. First, I think about the laws which were not passed, to our advantage.

The session began with a bang when the House Education Committee came out with a bill that would have provided that citizens of a county would be allowed to vote on the issue if a county board of education decided to close an elementary or middle school.

This bill took many educators unaware as the group that was pushing it had been trying to get limitations on the length of time students could ride a bus to school. But House Bill 4040 never made it to the Senate Education agenda, so administrators don’t have to plan for elections as well as jump through all the other hoops when trying to close schools.

A closer call may have been the legislation that would have changed the grievance procedure to allow for binding arbitration at the request of a grievant. We may have thought collective bargaining was an issue wrestled to oblivion a few years ago, but this bill would have inserted one area reserved to collective bargaining into our school laws, as well as the law governing grievances of all public employees. 

WVASA would have preferred a separate step in the School Aid Formula for professionals other than educators but this is definitely an increase in the number of nurses the state will fund.

That was a closer call, as the bill passed the House and made it to third reading in the Senate before a vote failed to suspend the rules to allow it to be read the third time on the final day bills had to pass out of their House of Origin. Thus, Senate Bill 417 died in the Senate. The grievance procedure issue is still alive and will most certainly come up in a future Legislative Session.

On the final day, Senate Bill 765 did not pass. I am not exactly sure what happened to the bill but it is not on the list of bills passing both houses. This bill would have required school boards to start the work day for bus operators and bus aides at a site owned by the board, or agreed to by mutual agreement by the bus driver and aide.

As I understand it, this bill was introduced at the request of the School Service Personnel Association in response to a particular situation in a particular county where an aide’s car had been damaged while parked along a remote road.

Most of the Senate Bills are still not published on the state Web site as enrolled bills. For that reason, I am not certain of the details of two important bills:  Senate Bill 53 and Senate Bill 127. 

SB 53, of course, changes the ratio of school nurses to one nurse for every 1,500 PreK-12 students enrolled based on second-month enrollment. This provision means small counties with fewer than 2,251 (I think) students will continue to be eligible for only one nurse in the county.

With the changing roles of schools to require them to provide so many health services that can only be provided by RNs, this still is not enough. However, the nurses that were added by the change in the law are being funded through provisions in that law. WVASA would have preferred a separate step in the School Aid Formula for professionals other than educators but this is definitely an increase in the number of nurses the state will fund.

SB 127 deals with RESAs and mainly requires the state superintendent to complete a study this year and report its findings the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability. We can look for continued concern by the Legislature about RESAs.

A few bills, including Senate Bill 785, addressed instructional concerns.  This bill relates to requirements for physical education in public schools and groups those requirements by programmatic, rather than grade levels. It also requires state board rules on collection, use and reporting of body mass index data.

We can look for continued concern by the Legislature about RESAs.

House Bill 2548 is named the “Diabetes Care Plan Act” and requires the State Board to establish guidelines and county boards to adopt guidelines for those plans within their counties. House Bill 4491 establishes the third week in October as Disability History week and requires all counties to integrate student instruction on disabilities during this week.

One bill was initiated in response to a judge’s opinion in Hancock County that the law did not give authority to assistant principals to discipline students. House Bill 4625 changed the definition of “Principal” found in 18A-5-1 to read, “Principal” means the principal, assistant principal, vice principal or the administrative head of the school or a professional personnel designee of the principal or the administrative head of the school. 

I believe this definition will be sufficient to allow school administrators the authority to discipline students in their schools in almost all situations.

A bill which had the support of both teachers and principals, House Bill 4406, would remove the requirement to evaluate experienced classroom teachers at least every three years. During discussion about this bill, some raised concerns that experienced teachers would not be evaluated at all.

This may occur, but the law provides that a teacher can be evaluated if he or she receives unsatisfactory evaluations, if a principal determines an evaluation to be necessary, or if a teacher requests to be evaluated. With all the additional responsibilities added to the duties of principals, some think that “good” teachers don’t require an evaluation to continue to do a good job.

A down side of this bill would be that a “good” teacher could fall down on his or her performance and the principal wouldn’t realize it until he or she deemed it necessary to terminate a teacher and would not have evaluation data to substantiate the need.

Most would agree there were not a great number of education bills passed this session. I would add that the law changing the definition of principal was acted upon quickly to enable appropriate authority to exist regarding discipline in the schools. 

Maybe it is better to have a responsive legislative year rather than an over-productive one.

Dean is a former Regional Educational Service Agency executive director. She has a doctorate in educational administration from West Virginia University.

 

MARTINSBURG — Deidre Purdy, attorney for former school employee Jerry Mezzatesta, said Monday that she has received no information from last week’s federal grand jury probe.

Speculations that a recent FBI probe centered particularly around Mezzatesta and a $75,000 grant may have proven to not be enough to indict the former school employee, who was also a former legislative delegate.

At least 12 local residents testified in federal court in Martinsburg Tuesday, March 21, for grand jury.

As of mid-afternoon, most of the 12 witnesses had already testified. Those testifying included former assistant superintendent Paula O’Brien, finance directors Denise Hott and Dale Hays, former HHS principal Tammy Moreland, who is also a sister to Mezzatesta, and school employee Candy Canan.

A spokesperson for the United States District Attorney’s Office said late last Wednesday afternoon that there were no apparent indictments handed down Tuesday against Mezzatesta, or former schools Superintendent David Friend.

U.S. District Attorney spokesperson Fawn Thomas, confirmed following the hearings that the federal grand jury in Martinsburg was complete and that no apparent indictments were handed down against Mezzatesta or Friend.

Thomas said she could not speak specifically about any individual case, but said there have been cases where investigations have continued following a grand jury, and where additional evidence was presented at another federal grand jury.

Thomas also said that had an indictment been handed down following last Tuesday’s grand jury hearing, that indictment would been made known to her office, unless it was a sealed indictment.

A sealed indictment, Thomas said, would only be in a case where the individual indicted was considered a danger of flight risk, hurting someone else or hurting him or herself.

Purdy said on Tuesday, March 28, that she is attempting to find out whether or not Mezzatesta is still a target of an FBI investigation.

Used by permission of the Hampshire Review, www.hampshirereview.com. This article originally appeared March 29.

 


The first and only director of the state School Building Authority, Clacy Williams, plans to leave the job this summer after 38 years in education, the last 16 as SBA executive director.

Former Gov. Gaston Caperton and state lawmakers created the SBA in 1989 and the new board hired Williams a few months later. Since that time, 127 new schools have been constructed in West Virginia and hundreds of other improvement projects have taken place at existing schools.

Williams said it's been great to be part of something right from the start. "The School Building Authority gave me an opportunity to do something very few people ever get a chance to do in a career, to create something new, something different, something exciting."

Williams said nearly $2 billion in school construction has taken place over the 16 years, with about half from state funds. He said he has reached a point in his career that retirement is a good option.

"There just comes a time in your life when you feel like you need to make that decision." He said retiring at his current age will allow him to have a short-time second career.

He said the SBA gets its money from the Legislature so the job has been political in nature, but he has tried his best to keep politics out of which projects are selected for funding. "If and when politics becomes an issue and driving force in making decisions on who is funded here then it no longer becomes a viable kind of board."

State lawmakers agreed with Gov. Joe Manchin last year and took the power of appointing the SBA director away from the board itself and gave it to the governor. So Manchin will choose Williams' replacement.

Williams said he hopes his replacement will have a solid background in school facilities and finances. He said the new director will continue to face challenges of a growing school population in the Eastern Panhandle and stagnant student enrollment in southern counties.

“There's every appearance that that trend is going to continue for a short period of time. Hopefully, the declining enrollment is going to plateau." He said the decline has been slower the last two years than the previous 10.

Sources: West Virginia MetroNews, the Associated Press, The Charleston Gazette, The Charleston Daily Mail, WVSBA reporting.

 

The head of a Regional Educational Service Agency (RESA) plans to appeal her suspension over the disappearance of $1 million in agency funds, her lawyer said, based on various reports, including information provided to the Beckley Register-Herald late last week.

The state Board of Education voted 5-3 on March 23 to suspend Carol Morgan, executive director of Beckley-based RESA I, for 90 days. The decision came after board members received a report on a review of the agency conducted by former Berkeley County school administrator Jim Welton at the behest of the state superintendent of schools.

According to reports, the West Virginia Board of Education, through advertising of the March Special meeting, may have not been in full compliance with provisions of the state’s Open Governmental Proceedings Act (OGPA) in that the meeting notice stated it concerned the RESA I “investigation” per se and not possible disciplinary action against any RESA employee or employees.

The West Virginia Department of Education’s Web site says Morgan’s suspension will not begin until board members work out the details, which likely will occur at the board’s April meeting, WVDE spokeswoman Liza Cordeiro said.

The investigator’s review found that RESA I gave too much power to one employee and failed to follow internal controls.

"I think the confusion began when it was assumed that she was suspended effective immediately,'' Cordeiro said.

Morgan's lawyer, Erwin Conrad, said he will appeal the board's decision.

The money disappeared over five years in a scheme that went undetected. The agency received clean audits from both the state Auditor’s Office and Arnett and Foster for at least five years, according to Welton’s report.

Welton's review found that RESA I gave too much power to one employee and failed to follow internal controls, the report said.

The board ordered the review in February after Deborah Calhoun Mitchell, executive secretary of RESA I, resigned after nearly 30 years on the job. The case also has been referred to county and federal prosecutors.

McDowell County Schools Superintendent Mark Manchin, a member of the RESA I advisory council, told the Associated Press he was concerned that audits did not detect any problems.

"Why do we have yearly audits of school boards, the state school board, RESAs and nearly every government agency and private industry?'' Manchin asked. "I would assume, it's to ensure money is being spent in accordance as prescribed by budgets, grants and state and federal law and that all the necessary accounting processes are being adhered to.

"That, in my mind, is the purpose of an audit. And if any of these are askew, or not in accordance, that needs to be brought to the attention of the proper officials,'' he said.

Manchin also said the role of the RESA advisory councils should be clarified.

State Board of Education members approved eight recommendations March 23 to better deal with the financial situations of the state's eight RESAs. Those include conducting on-sight reviews and evaluating current accounting polices and procedures.

At the March 23 meeting, the state superintendent briefed state board members on legislation passed earlier this month that requires the state school superintendent to study all aspects of RESAs and report his findings to lawmakers by Dec. 1.

Board members approved eight recommendations to better deal with the financial situations of the state's eight RESAs. Those include conducting on-sight reviews and evaluating current accounting polices and procedures.

Board members also plan to develop specific guidance for the financial operations of all RESAs and conduct a workshop on fiduciary responsibilities. The state Department of Education will work with the state Auditor's Office to develop a compliance supplement for auditors.

Morgan has served as RESA I executive director since 1989. She is a former Wyoming County Schools central office administrator.

The Legislature created the RESAs in 1972 to provide high-quality, cost-effective educational programs and services to county school systems. Services include technical assistance, staff development, purchasing and grant assistance.

RESA I serves McDowell, Mercer, Monroe, Raleigh, Summers and Wyoming counties.

Sources: The Associated Press, West Virginia MetroNews, The Charleston Gazette, The Charleston Daily Mail, WVSBA reporting and The Register-Herald.

 

By Jim Wallace

The authority of the West Virginia Board of Education to take over troubled school systems stands undiminished as a result of the latest court ruling on the matter. But legal experts say that doesn’t mean the issue is completely settled.

The latest decision came from Kanawha County Circuit Judge Paul Zakaib in a case challenging the right of the state board to take over the Mingo County school system after a consolidation project stalled under the local school board. Zakaib fully upheld an earlier decision from retired Mercer County Circuit Judge David Knight, who conducted a four-day administrative hearing last August.

The plaintiffs in the case, three Mingo County board members – Bill Duty, Mitchell Chapman and Mike Carter – and two citizens, alleged that the state board’s takeover of the school system early in 2005 was arbitrary and capricious. They sought an order returning full authority to the local board.

On the other side, were the state board and the two remaining Mingo County board members, J.D. Endicott and Dee Kapourales.

“I feel somewhat vindicated by Judge Knight’s decision and Judge Zakaib’s decision,” Endicott said. “The state takeover was justified.”

State board President Lowell Johnson was also pleased with Zakaib’s decision. “It’s important that the (state) board of education be able to do it’s constitutional duty when they feel that it’s necessary to do so,” he said.

State Superintendent Steve Paine said the decision allows the state board and Department of Education to focus on the mission of “providing students with the knowledge and tools necessary to succeed in the 21st century. I hope now that this lawsuit is behind us that the students of Mingo County receive the education they deserve.”

Duty wasn’t sure how to react to Zakaib’s ruling. He pledged that the local board would obey it, although he wasn’t convinced that all the relevant information in the case got to the judge.

‘Onus taken from local board’

“I do feel relieved in the sense that the onus has been taken from the local board,” Duty said. By that, he said he meant that if the consolidation of three high schools into one runs into trouble, as he suspects it might, the blame will then go to the state and not the majority of the local board.

Linda Martin of Challenge West Virginia, a group opposed to many school consolidation projects, said it was sad that Zakaib upheld the state takeover, because “it goes against the democratic process. The state took over that system because the people elected to keep small schools.”

But Kapourales thought the case “was pretty cut and dry.” She added, “I’m just tickled that Judge Zakaib saw what I see is the right way.”

Kapourales said Mingo County is already losing middle school and high school students across the border because of a new state-of-the-art high school in Belfry, Ky. She said Mingo County needs a new high school like that.

Martin acknowledged that some Mingo County students are going to school in Kentucky. But she said, “It’s not the new school building that they’re choosing. They just don’t want to be jerked around.”

But Johnson said, “The students were going to Kentucky before the state board ever took over the schools in Mingo County.”

It’s almost impossible for Mingo County’s small high schools to deliver an adequate curriculum, he said. Even the proposed consolidated school would have only about 600 students, which is not very big, Johnson said.

Consolidation at ‘heart of dispute’

The consolidation of Matewan, Burch and Williamson high schools into a new high school is at the heart of the dispute in Mingo County. In 1997, the county board sought and received approval from the state board to consolidate the three high schools into a new facility. The hope was that the consolidation would reduce personnel costs that were well above school funding formula limits, because that spending was largely responsible for deficit spending ranging from $2 million to $4 million a year.

But by early 1998, an on-site review of the Mingo County schools led the state board to decide on a limited state takeover of the school system, which lasted until December 2002. During that period, the county board developed a plan for closing and consolidating several schools, including the consolidation of Matewan, Burch, Williamson and Gilbert high schools, although Gilbert students would not be part of the consolidation until the completion of a new road in the area. The School Building Authority and the state board approved that plan.

Following the conclusion of the state intervention, the local board went forward with plans to build the new high school near Red Jacket on reclaimed mining land donated by Nicewonder Contracting. In December 2003, the School Building Authority approved a grant of $17.3 million for the project.

However, in mid-2004, control of the Mingo County school board shifted with the election of Duty and Chapman, who formed a new majority with Carter, who had been elected in 2002. In July 2004, the state board received complaints from Mingo County citizens about inadequate curriculum and low ACT scores. The state board also heard from Duty, the local board’s new president, who said the local board had voted to “freeze” implementation of the consolidation plan.

The county board subsequently suspended the construction manager’s work on the high school project. In September 2004, Howard Seufer, the county board’s attorney, advised the board that abandoning the consolidated high school project could result in the loss of the School Building Authority grant and the gift of property and site improvements from Nicewonder. He also warned that board members risked removal from office and state board intervention.

In January 2005, the Office of Education Performance Audits sent a 36-member team to Mingo County to inspect the school system. Among the findings of the audit were that closure and consolidation of schools had not kept pace with declining enrollment and that the county board was operating in a confused, dysfunctional manner.

In February 2005, the state board decided to take control of the Mingo County school system. A few weeks later, the three members in the majority on the local board and two that sought to return full power to the county board. One effect of that suit was that the court prevented state officials from proceeding with consolidation in Mingo County until the case was resolved.

Case not necessarily over

Just because Knight and Zakaib have ruled in favor of the state board’s takeover doesn’t mean this case is over. Individuals on both sides of the dispute have indicated they expect it to go to the state Supreme Court.

Duty said he would like it to go to the Supreme Court, but he would depend on advice from Jim Lees, the attorney for him and other takeover opponents. He said Lees had told him that “either way Judge Zakaib ruled it would go to the Supreme Court.”

Lees did not return phone and e-mail requests for comment.

Deputy Attorney General Kelli Talbott, who represents the state board, said, “I presume this will get appealed to the Supreme Court. If they do appeal, I feel confident that we’re in a good position at this point.”

Talbott noted that the Supreme Court has essentially upheld previous legal challenges to state takeovers of county school systems by declining to hear appeals of circuit court decisions. But she said anything could happen if the Supreme Court would decide to hear arguments in a takeover case.

“The Supreme Court has never directly looked at the intervention statute,” Talbott said. “There is no case law at the Supreme Court level. I think it’s likely that it may be revisited again at some time.”

The case law that has been built up over the years that seems to support the state board’s right to take over local systems is based on the constitutional provision that the state board is ultimately responsible for “thorough and efficient” education throughout West Virginia, she said.

“There’s all this infrastructure out there that supports this statute, but there is no case law at the Supreme Court level to address it,” Talbott said. “If you are ultimately responsible, what mechanism do you use to enforce that right?”

Robert Bastress, a law professor at West Virginia University, agreed that the Supreme Court has never directly addressed the issue, so it’s theoretically possible the court could someday decide the state board should not be allowed to take over locally elected school boards.

“But I would be amazed if the Supreme Court said the state didn’t have that power,” he said. “There would have to be significant change in case law to reign in state board authority.”

Nevertheless, Bastress said some good arguments could be made against state takeovers. He said the consolidation and closure of schools are among “the most critical decisions for local communities,” so they should best be handled by locally elected officials.

Consolidations ‘matter of local policy’

“As a matter of policy, it is not a good idea to take these closing and consolidation decisions away from the local board, but I don’t think there’s much to do about it at the moment,” Bastress said.

Some observers have wondered if the outcome of the lawsuit by Duty and others in the Mingo County takeover case would have been different if the local board had presented the state with an alternative to the county’s Comprehensive Educational Facilities Plan (CEFP).

Debbie Thompson, president of the West Virginia School Boards Association, and Howard O’Cull, the association’s executive director, have noted that the Mason County board returned School Building Authority funds after getting approval for a plan that allowed the county to keep small local schools and avoid consolidation. Johnson said, “Mason County decided they would have smaller schools and they passed bond issues to do it,” but Mingo County was running deficits trying to maintain its small schools.

If the Mingo County board had presented an amended facilities plan, Thompson and O’Cull said, the state board would have faced different issues. If the state board still had intervened, the local board would have had to defend its plan and the state board would have had to defend its stance against that plan.

But Thompson and O’Cull said what essentially happened was that the local board majority protested the consolidation without taking further action to base that protest on the facilities plan. While saying the ultimate outcome may not have been different, they acknowledged many members of the association wondered if the local board could have received more directed legal advice to develop proposed amendments to their CEFP.

Both association officials stressed they individually were not second-guessing that aspect of the matter.

Seufer, however, said, “I just represent the board. I don’t try to steer them in any direction.” He added that he gave the board a comprehensive report on the situation and warned members that a state takeover was possible.

Duty said he had spoken with Clacy Williams, executive director of the School Building Authority, who indicated that the Mingo County board had until March 2005 to come up with an alternative facilities plan. So Duty said he did not expect the state board to take over the school system that February.

Seufer said, “I don’t believe anybody asked us about a timeline.”

Now that the takeover has been upheld in circuit court, Duty said that, unless the Supreme Court would reverse Zakaib’s decision, he won’t stand in the way of the consolidation project.

“As a board member, I’m not going to defy a court order,” he said. “But I will have a disclaimer on every vote I take.”

Jim Wallace is a former government reporter for the Charleston Daily Mail and former news director of West Virginia Public Radio. He now works for TSG Consulting in Charleston and writes for several national and West Virginia publications.

 

By Dianne Weaver
The Hur Herald

Challenge West Virginia Coordinator Linda Martin says West Virginia's education policy is still based on an obsolete model.

"It is a message Challenge has repeated a thousand times, and will continue to repeat," Martin said. "Challenge has a mission not only to get our educational leaders to believe the research, but to inform the citizens of the state," she said.

"We've done a pretty good job educating the public, but officialdom has a vested interest in going down the wrong path."

Martin contends few states have beaten a path to school consolidation faster than West Virginia. She cited a recent grassroots bill moved forward by the House Education Committee and almost unanimously passed by the House.

"Today information is the predator and we are the prey.” – Linda Martin, Challenge West Virginia

"The legislation would have returned a little power to communities to decide about consolidation, allowing [citizens] a vote," Martin said.

Members of the House of Delegates were responding to their constituents, who are tired of the state's bloody hammer being used on their local schools. House Education chairman Sen. Robert Plymale stopped the bill from moving forward.

"He used Lloyd Jackson's old saw that the decision to consolidate is always made by local school boards," said Martin, "Everyone knows that local school boards are held hostage by the School Building Authority."

 

Research supports community model

Martin continues to tell state residents they live in the 21st century age of information, but education policy decisions are being made by people stuck in the 20th century industrial age.

"The industrial model that guides them includes ‘economies of scale,’ and that’s what they use to decide where they will build larger schools while moving children further and further from the communities where they live," Martin said.

Martin says she sounds like a broken record.

"State officials cannot be so uninformed as to not know what all the research shows – small schools provide a better education, higher graduation rates, lower dropout rates, and higher achievement."

"Our schools are rapidly being removed from communities. They’re all out on the four-lane roads like Wal-Marts.” – Thomas Ramey, Challenge West Virginia

During nearly a decade of Challenge WV, the research piles up, showing small schools are better, at the same time educational bureaucrats ignore the thousands of kids age four and up who are being placed on bus rides of an hour and more one-way.

West Virginia spends more money transporting students than any other state.

"Today information is the predator and we are the prey," Martin said. "There is more information available than any of us needs or can consume. Much of it is inaccurate and sometimes even harmful to us. Our children need to learn to be thinkers."

 

Wal-Marting our children?

"What enables us to make those selections is being connected with and involved in the real life and work of our communities, surrounded by people who know us and interact with us," she said.

Martin and Challenge WV fellows adamantly believe that community people will help children "read their reality so they can write their own history and improve their world in the 21st century."

Thomas Ramey of Challenge WV, said "Our schools are rapidly being removed from communities. They’re all out on the four-lane roads like Wal-Marts. We’re 'Wal-Marting' our children."

Author Jonathan Kozol has written that our public schools are often "prisoners of minds." Schools are starting to look more like prisons, with solutions offered to address school violence like metal detectors, identification tags, holding rooms and police officers.

Mary Anne Raywid, respected professor at Hofstra University, said students are more satisfied with small schools, fewer of them drop out and they behave better in small schools. In addition, she says disadvantaged students particularly need the small school setting.

Martin says there are many studies that show school size is the most important predictor of school violence.

"The school where the metal detectors have been installed in McDowell is the consolidated school. They’re not needed at the small schools," said community school advocate Mike Carter.

Researcher Craig Howley of the Appalachia Educational Laboratory in Charleston, W.Va., notes that school size exerts a "unique influence on academic accomplishments with a strong negative relationship linking the two: The larger the school, the lower the student achievement rates."

Martin concluded, "This is not about nostalgia. This is about the best way to educate our kids."

Reprinted by permission of the Hur Herald, www.hurherald.com. This article originally appeared March 25, 2006.

 

 

By Richard J. Goff, Executive Director
West Virginia Department of Education Office of Child Nutrition

With childhood obesity and its alarming consequences at an all-time high, the value of improving nutrition and physical activity among our nation's school children is a high priority. As a result, on June 30, 2004, President Bush signed Public Law 108-265, the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004.

This law states that each local educational agency participating in a program authorized by the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act, or the Child Nutrition Act of 1966, shall establish a local school wellness policy by school year 2006. 

The development and implementation of local wellness policies serves several purposes:

The components of a local wellness policy are well defined by the law. At a minimum, the policy must include goals for nutrition education, physical activity and other school-based activities that are designed to promote student wellness. Nutrition guidelines for all foods available to students on the school campus are included. The policy must address the growing concern of childhood obesity and must establish a measurable evaluation plan.  

One of the most important steps in developing a local wellness policy is the formation of a local wellness team. In most cases, local education agencies will be responsible for recruiting members of the team. Community involvement is required and committees must include parents, students, representatives from the school food authority, the school board, school administrators, and the public.

If the school or community is already working on student wellness issues and has an existing infrastructure, such as a school health council or a coordinated school health program, a collaborative approach is recommended.    Once the team is in place, an assessment of the current situation occurs next. 

Schools and communities have a shared responsibility to provide students with everything they need to grow, develop, and do well in school.

There are several tools available to assess schools’ existing policies, program, and areas that need improvement. The “School Health Index,” a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) self-assessment and planning guide, is recommended. This tool helps teams to identify the strengths and weaknesses of existing nutrition and physical activity policies and programs within the county.

Policy development is based on the results of the needs assessment.  Teams must consider where the school district is currently and where they would like to be. It is important for teams to consider what is realistic and attainable.

They also must consider the financial implications of each policy option, particularly with regard to revenue-generating venues like vending machines and school fundraisers. By involving school representatives, parents, students and community members, all affected parties can voice their concerns and recommendations.  The goal is to create policies that all stakeholders will support to improve the health and well-being of the children.

Support of local wellness policies is critical, both in the schools and the communities. Awareness campaigns that highlight the potential benefits the policy can have on student learning and academic achievement will help to gain the needed support.  Changes in an environment where academics, not wellness, have not been the focus will be difficult. 

Evaluation and feedback are very important to assess the progress attained by the local wellness policies.  Each county is required, by law, to establish a plan for measuring and evaluating their effort. If this is done effectively, local wellness policies will be constantly changing as new information and resources become available. But, through evaluation, local wellness policy teams will be able to answer some very important questions, such as are the policies working to make a difference. If not, what needs to happen or who else needs to be involved.

The well-being of our children is the responsibility of everyone. Schools and communities have a shared responsibility to provide students with everything they need to grow, develop, and do well in school. Good nutrition and adequate physical activity are crucial components of a healthy lifestyle. Local wellness policies will help make schools a place where learning and health promotion are provided to all students.

 

In The Regions

By Jim Wallace

Not too long ago, it was simple to describe both education and the economy in West Virginia’s southern coalfield counties: in decline.

But it’s not so simple anymore. The current coal boom has boosted the economy in some, but not all, parts of southern West Virginia. As a result, years of declining enrollment have been reversed, or at least arrested, in some counties, while others have yet to reap any benefits.

 

Logan County

The biggest turnaround is in Logan County. The schools there had about 18,000 students in the mid-1960s, but lost hundreds of students annually in subsequent years until enrollment bottomed out at one-third of that level. But the official second-month count of enrollment this year was 6,157, an increase of 99 students over last year, and Superintendent David Godby believes another 10 to 20 students have enrolled in the past few months.

“Everybody encourages kids not to get into the feast and famine cycle [of the coal industry]. I think they have learned their lessons.” – David Godby, Logan County Schools Superintendent

“Any kind of increase is good,” he said. “The belief is this surge will last several more years.”

The economic boom is not just from the mines themselves but also from welding shops, mine repair companies, cable companies and pump companies. “Anything related to the coal industry is up,” Godby said.

The school system expects an even bigger school population next year if the number of children in kindergarten is at the same level as this year, although early enrollment is down a bit. Godby said the influx of students has come both from newcomers to the county and from former residents who have moved back.

“There are thousands of Logan Countians who would love to come back,” he said. “It causes us to look at how we’re going to provide facilities if this growth continues.”

Over the past 25 years, Logan County has closed 15 schools, about half of the number it once had, and all but a couple of those buildings are no longer in the school board’s hands.

“We keep reducing staff,” said Godby, a Logan County graduate who has worked for the school system for 32 years and been superintendent for four years. “We may have to start recruiting people. This is a wonderful problem, one that we have not experienced.”


Boone County

In neighboring Boone County, which has the highest coal production in the state, the effects of the coal boom have been less dramatic. School enrollment has been level the past two years after a few years of modest increases of 25 to 30 students a year.

Superintendent Steve Pauley believes the more modest growth might be because miners move around from coal site to coal site without moving their families more than they did in the past.

“There are a lot of commuting coal miners because the traffic is tremendous,” he said.

However, having steady enrollment amid a growing economy is not a bad situation for a school system. Pauley said it’s certainly easier to handle than the declining enrollment of the past or the rapidly rising enrollment the Eastern Panhandle school systems are experiencing.

“We’re not losing any money to the state department,” he said. “We’re able to see a little increase in our coal severance tax money.”

After 32 years in the school system, including six as superintendent, Pauley knows what it’s like to operate in a shrinking school system. The Boone County schools, which now have about 4,500 students, have lost about half of their enrollment since he arrived in the late 1970s. So Pauley is hoping the current coal boom has a good run.

 

Wyoming County

The situation is much the same in Wyoming County, where enrollment went up by 29 students this year after many years of decline from about 12,000 students in 1969 to about 4,300 now.

“We are seeing some of the benefits of the economy,” Superintendent Frank Blackwell said. “There is no question the coal situation has affected West Virginia.”

When coal mining is down, so is the economy of Wyoming County. That drives away young people with school-aged children. But these days, Blackwell is noticing that both former residents and newcomers, including a man from Chicago and a woman from Kansas, have been settling in the county. Also, fewer houses are for sale than in the past, and some rundown, abandoned homes are being restored.

“There’s probably a lot more people who would like to come back,” he said. “People are friendly. You can walk the streets at night. It’s a good place to raise a family.”

“People are rebuilding the pride that was here. When the economy is good, the attitude is good. Everybody has a better outlook on things.” – Frank Blackwell, Wyoming County Schools SuperintendeBlackwell said the economic upturn in Wyoming County is a result of not only more jobs in the coal industry and related businesses but also from a new state prison in McDowell County and the popularity of the Hatfield-McCoy Recreational Trail. In coming years, residents also should benefit from a federal prison to be built near the McDowell-Wyoming county border and construction of the Coalfields Expressway, he said.

“People are rebuilding the pride that was here,” Blackwell said. “When the economy is good, the attitude is good. Everybody has a better outlook on things.”

Furthermore, he believes the school system is ready for the changes. It operates 14 schools now after closing 14 since 1990 and consolidating six high schools into two new high schools. In addition, all the middle schools and grade schools have been renovated.

“Facility-wise, we’re as well off as we have ever been,” Blackwell said. “We’re set for some growth and I hope that we have it.”

The two high schools were built for about 800 students each, but one has only about 650 students and the other has about 620 students now.

Blackwell, a native of Wyoming County who has been working in the school system since 1970, including 24 years as superintendent, said, “It’s a big relief to see we have actually bottomed out and begun to climb back out.”

 

McDowell County

McDowell County Superintendent Mark Manchin has a similar viewpoint.

“We have not been touched by the coal boom yet,” he said. “But we anticipate that the boom is coming. It’s just starting for us. You will see some of the effects in a year or two.”

McDowell County is also looking forward to about 300 good-paying jobs when the new federal prison opens. Many McDowell County students are learning Spanish so they will be better qualified for jobs there, because a good portion of the inmates are expected to be Hispanic.

“Schools just simply reflect society. You must build a quality education before economic development.” – Mark Manchin, McDowell County Schools Superintendent

Back in the late 1940s, McDowell County operated almost 100 schools for about 20,000 students. This year’s official enrollment of 4,001 is just one-fifth of that and much less than the 9,000-student level the system had as recently as 1990.

Enrollment dropped by more than 100 this year, but that’s not as bad as the rate of 200 to 250 students a year the county lost in recent years. “We’re still losing, but it has started to level off,” Manchin said.

The county is down to just 14 schools this year. By the fall of 2010, it should have just nine: two high schools, three middle schools and four elementary schools.

When Manchin became superintendent in January 2002, after the state board of education took control of the McDowell County schools, he found “some of the worst facilities I have ever seen in my life.” Excluding one school built in 1979, the average age of the current buildings is still more than 70 years old. The average age of the buildings that have been closed is more than 80 years old.

Manchin said that exemplifies the situation McDowell County has faced since the middle of the 20th century. Back then, mining companies hauled a lot of coal out of the county but did little to invest in its infrastructure, and no one else invested much in it either. When coal production dwindled, what infrastructure existed was left to deteriorate over the years in the same way school buildings did.

These days, some investment in crumbling roads and water lines is being made, although Manchin said much more should be done. That’s all the more reason he believes the school system should be in the lead for improvements.

“Schools just simply reflect society,” Manchin said. “You must build a quality education before economic development.”

 

Raleigh County

Like Wyoming and Boone counties, Raleigh County also has seen slight increases in student population in the last couple of years after years of decreases. Superintendent Charlotte Hutchins said the declines were in the range of 30 to 50 students annually in some years to as much as 150 to 200 students in other years.

Enrollment was 13,098 in the 1998-1999 school year. It is 11,629 this year, so the decline in Raleigh County wasn’t as precipitous as those in other counties. Hutchins also has noticed that, as the decline in enrollment has turned around, so has the poverty level. Fewer students have been qualifying for free and reduced lunches, although, she said, “It’s so recent you can’t say it is a trend.”

Hutchins has noticed many new businesses opening in Raleigh County but won’t credit the coal industry solely for the economic upturn. “The coal boom is part of that, but I wouldn’t attribute all of it to that,” she said.

Some of the growth is a result of Beckley’s position as a regional hub for commerce, Hutchins said. A lot of new housing in Raleigh County has also helped, she said, but much of that has been for older residents without school-age children.

In the past, the mindset of many young people was that they didn’t need post-secondary education – or even a high school diploma in some cases – because they were sure they could get jobs in the mines. But superintendents throughout the coalfields say students are not making the mistakes of their predecessors from previous boom times in the coalfields.

The school system closed only one of five high schools and one elementary school in consolidation in recent years. It now operates 19 elementary schools, five middle schools and four high schools, plus a vocational center.

“Raleigh County people are very generous in passing bonds for school construction,” Hutchins said.

 

 

 

 

 

Fayette County

A few other counties in the region have not seen any benefits yet from the coal boom. In Fayette County, Superintendent Helen Whitehair said there is a lot of talk about land development but not coal mining. The upscale developments being considered in the New River Gorge area might increase tax revenues for the school system but not enrollment, she said, because they are expected to provide second homes for people who live elsewhere.       

Since 1993, enrollment in the Fayette County schools has dropped by 2,224 students. During most years in the 1990s, the schools suffered annual drops of more than 200 students and sometimes as high as 350. In the past few years, however, the loss rate has been much lower: about 80 twice and just 42 this year. In 2002, the school system even had a rare increase of 29 students, but Whitehair is unable to explain why.

“I’m in hopes that we’ll reach a plateau in the near future,” she said.

 

Mingo County

In Mingo County, both the school system and the economy are still struggling.

“That coal boom hasn’t reached over to Mingo County just yet,” Superintendent Brenda Skibo said. “It’s still declining, but the decline has slowed up. We hope to get some spillover from Logan County. We hope that happens, but as of right now, it hasn’t. The school system is suffering because it’s in a declining mode.”

About 4,600 students are enrolled in the Mingo County schools this year. Enrollment peaked in the 1980s at about 10,000.

Like other systems that have gone through shrinking enrollment, Mingo County has been struggling with staffing a lot of schools with low enrollment and has gone through battles over consolidation. Those battles aren’t over, but Skibo expects four high schools – Matewan, Burch, Williamson and Gilbert – to be combined into one new high school in the southern part of the county while Tug Valley High School will remain in the northern part.

“We are not moving ahead full speed, but we are moving ahead,” she said of the consolidated high school. “I believe it will be built.”

Skibo, who has been superintendent for four years after spending 33 years in the Logan County schools, said the school system has been fortunate that Mingo County voters have been faithful in renewing the school levy that brings in $5.5 million a year, but half of that money must go for pay teachers’ salaries over what the state formula provides.

Mingo County also has trouble filling teaching positions because a new state-of-the-art high school across the border in Belfry, Ky., can offer teachers several thousands of dollars more in salary. It’s not unusual for a teacher to retire from the Mingo County school system and go to work in Kentucky, Skibo said, and she’s afraid that could hinder efforts to improve the county’s economy.

“People who move into the area ask first about the schools,” she said. “They might look at Belfry more favorably.”

 

Lincoln County

Lincoln County also has not benefited from the coal boom. It has coal miners but not the mines.

“We have lots of miners who drive to other counties,” Superintendent Bill Grizzell said. “The natural resource here is gas. It’s not coal.”

Those gas wells provide relatively few jobs, perhaps 100 countywide by Grizzell’s estimate. “Once a well is drilled, one guy can handle it,” he said.

Outside of the school system and county government, there are few jobs in Lincoln County.

“The ones who are left are those who don’t have a skill to get employment, Grizzell said. “The population you lose is usually the employable population.”

Grizzell often runs into former students working at the stores along Corridor G in Kanawha County.

“Our kids who graduate from college are not coming back,” he said. “Most of our people work in Huntington and Charleston. There is a steady flow each day. A few go into Putnam County.”

So it is no surprise that enrollment in Lincoln County schools has been falling for many years and no change is in sight.

In 1980, 5,477 students were enrolled. By 2000, that had dropped to 3,802. This year, it is 3,747.

“We figure about 3 percent a year,” Grizzell said. “We have an older population. There are no job prospects for people to move into this area.”

Despite the population decline, many Lincoln County residents have fought bitterly against consolidation and the state takeover of the school system, which has been in effect since 2000. By this fall, a new high school near Hamlin will replace Duvall, Guyan Valley and Hamlin high schools. High school students from the Harts area will cross into Logan County to attend school in Chapmanville, which is scheduled to get a new high school next year.

Lincoln County has about 300 kindergarten students right now, but Grizzell expects only about 200 of them to be left by the time their class graduates from high school. Another sign of the troubled economy is that about 70 percent of students qualify for free and reduced lunches, and that percentage keeps going up each year.

However, one thing Lincoln County schools have in common with other counties throughout the southern coalfields is training for the next generation of coal miners and people who work in support industries. For example, about 75 high school students and adults in Lincoln County have been trained in a coal mine safety academy, and students in welding classes visit mines.

In Wyoming County, all the mining training classes at the career center are full. Blackwell said. Other classes, such as industrial electronics and hydraulics, also are helpful for students who plan to go into mining, he said.

But superintendents throughout the region say students are not making the mistakes of their predecessors from previous boom times in the coalfields. In the past, the mindset of many young people was that they didn’t need post-secondary education – or even a high school diploma in some cases – because they were sure they could get jobs in the mines.

“I don’t see that mindset coming back,” Manchin said. “I think the society and the incidences here in McDowell County have illustrated that to them. You see what can happen if you don’t diversify and prepare for the future.”

Godby said the Promise scholarship program also has made higher education more of a possibility for many students who might not have considered it otherwise.

“The Promise scholarship significantly affects that,” he said. “I think the people who set their sights on college are going to pursue that no matter what the economy is here. Everybody encourages kids not to get into the feast and famine cycle [of the coal industry]. I think they have learned their lessons.”

Jim Wallace is a former government reporter for the Charleston Daily Mail and former news director of West Virginia Public Radio. He now works for TSG Consulting in Charleston and writes for several national and West Virginia publications.

 


WVSSAC Report

 

Exciting games and good sportsmanship prevail at this year’s state basketball tourney

By Jack Wiseman, WVSSAC Board Member
County Boards of Education Representative

As the elected “school board” representative to the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission (WVSSAC), I submit the following report.

The state high school boys and girls basketball tournament events went extremely well. Most all games were tightly contested and good sportsmanship prevailed throughout the tournament. The seeding of teams in the final eight appears to be beneficial.

Official attendance has not been tabulated, however, it appears the total attendance for the girl's tournament is in the neighborhood of 28,000 and the boy's tournament, between 62,000 and 65,000.

The State Basketball Tournament is a great time for everyone. It is a reunion for many and the one time each year old friends get together and renew memories.

The next WVSSAC meeting is the Principals’ Board of Control meeting at Stonewall Resort April 2-4.

Thank you for allowing me to represent county boards as the WVSSAC representative.

Wiseman is a Jackson County school board member and a former principal and coach.

 

WVSBA Briefs

Spring training teleconference May 18. The West Virginia School Boards Association’s Spring Training Teleconference is May 18. The program, at the behest of the West Virginia School Boards Association/West Virginia Board of Education School Board Member Training Standards Review Committee (TSRC), has been streamlined to two-hours.

WVSBA counsel Howard E. Seufer Jr. will present the latest information regarding the 2006 regular legislative session. County boards may participate in the program as it is broadcast live, beginning at 6 p.m. or purchase a recording that can be used for two hours of board member training credits.

For more information, please contact WVSBA Executive Director Howard M. O’Cull, Ed.D. at hocull@wvsba.org.

Orientation program June 14-16. WVSBA’s Orientation ’06 is June 14-16 at Stonewall Resort in Roanoke, W.Va. The program begins at 10 a.m. Wednesday, June 14, and ends at at 11:45 a.m., Friday, June 16.

Presenters include Daniel B. Tollett, Ph.D., former Tennessee School Boards Association executive director; Jim Slaughter, a registered parliamentarian; Lew Brewer, state Ethics Commission executive director; WVSBA attorney Howard E. Seufer Jr., who will discuss school law; Joe Panetta, executive director of the West Virginia Department of Education’s Office of School Finance; and, presentations by O’Cull and WVSBA Executive Committee members.

Several state officials also have been invited, including Gov. Joe Manchin; state Board of Education President Lowell Johnson, Ph.D., (Greenbrier); State Superintendent of Schools Steven L. Paine, Ed.D., and Martha Dean, Ed.D., West Virginia Association of School Administrators executive director. Dean or a WVASA representative, along with members of the WVSBA Executive Board will participate in a discussion of board-superintendent relations.

Additional program details will be forwarded to members early next month. Veteran members may receive training credits for attending the programs (or program segments). Those credit hours will “count” toward FY06 training. Newly elected members’ orientation training does not count toward ’07 training requirements, as determined by the TSRC several years ago.

Members appointed since the 2004 Orientation, and who have not attended an orientation program, must attend this session if elected to a position to their boards during the May Primary Election. Members who attended orientation previously and who are re-elected are not required to attend the program. County board members who attended previous orientation programs but who have had a “lapse” or “break” in service are required to attend the 2006 session.

For questions about orientation, contact O’Cull.

Committee to look at athletic coaching issues. WVSBA President Debbie Thompson (Pleasants) has announced she will appoint a seven-member committee to study issues relating to athletic coaches and coaching in West Virginia. She will chair the committee that will work with Jack Wiseman (Jackson), WVSBA’s representative to the state Secondary Schools Activities Commission.

Committee appointments will be announced in early April after Thompson has contacted potential members. The committee is an ad hoc committee and will be disbanded by Dec. 31, according to Thompson. O’Cull will provide committee staffing, Thompson said.

Updated handbook on its way. The association’s Committee on Constitution and Bylaws Revision will meet April 8 in Flatwoods and the Handbook Committee soon will receive an updated edition of the handbook for their work later in the spring.

That work is being prepared by Rick Boothby, an attorney for Bowles Rice McDavid Graff and Love. Mercer County Board Member Gene Bailey chairs the Handbook Committee.

County boards to receive copy of proclamation. Thompson announced that each county board will receive a copy of the Proclamation given to county board members in February. The Proclamation will be suitable for display in each county board central office or meeting room.

If you did not receive a copy of the picture taken the day Gov. Manchin presented the proclamation, please contact WVSBA’s Shirley Davidson at sdavidson@wvsbva.org.

 

County Showcase

By Carolyn Long, Superintendent
Braxton County Schools

Braxton County Schools and Fairmont State Community and Technical College are partnering to provide students in central West Virginia an educational opportunity few others have had in West Virginia. 

The last two years of high school and the first two years of college constitute a developmental period that should launch students through early adulthood into further education and work. However, too many students either drop out of high school or merely attend without being fully engaged.  When time comes for graduation and furthering their education, the realization that they are not prepared sinks in and they drift away into whatever jobs happen to be available. 

Braxton County High School and Fairmont State CTC are pursuing a new educational model known as “The Early College High School Initiative.” This model will demonstrate that students encountering the rigor, depth and intensity of college work at an earlier age will be inspired to continue their education and learn the skills they need to be competitive in current and future economic climates.     

Drawing upon the Earn a Degree Graduate Early (EDGE) curriculum, dual credit courses, articulation with specific programs and especially having a physical presence on the campus of Braxton County High School, Fairmont State CTC can help increase the college-going rate of Braxton County High graduates and increase the educational level of its citizens and those of the surrounding counties.

We believe the benefits of the Early College High School will make higher education more accessible, affordable and attractive by bridging the divide between high school and college. It will maximize the use of time during the junior and senior years of high school and facilitate the transition of motivated students to higher education.  It will also demonstrate new ways of intergrading levels of schooling to better serve the intellectual and developmental needs of our young people.

By changing the structure of the high school years and allowing students to make substantial progress toward an associate’s degree while still in high school, the Early College High School has the potential to save money for families and taxpayers and to better prepare students for entry into high-skill careers. In addition, the Early College High School program unifies and reconceptualizes academic work from ninth through “14th” grades.

We know it will take time for students to accept the need to step up to a more demanding curriculum in the Early College High School program. However, we also believe the concept will grow and students will clamor to get involved.

We know it will take time for students to accept the need to step up to a more demanding curriculum in the Early College High School program. However, we also believe that after seeing a shared vision that values learning, student success and creating possible career paths for students, the concept will grow and students will clamor to get involved in the Early College High School program.

Expectations will be clearly established for admission and for the standards and quality of work required for students to begin college-level courses, gain college credit and demonstrate mastery. We anticipate enrolled students will experience an increase in self esteem and self confidence that will benefit them the rest of their lives.

Braxton County citizens already have begun to support this program. A fund has been established to offset the cost of those classes that require tuition. To this day, about $5,000 has been pledged and other organizations and people have indicated they will contribute to this fund.

 In the evenings, we will offer expanded college credit-bearing courses for adults and for eligible high school students who could not fit certain courses into their daytime schedules. Non-credit community education courses, geared toward enhancing the quality of life within a community, will be mixed with college credit courses. Many of the courses are short and demonstrate to the community that learning is fun and lifelong. 

The combination of educational opportunities will benefit Braxton County High School students, the community and the surrounding area and will provide additional avenues for personal growth so citizens in central West Virginia can reach their personal goals and contribute to the area’s economic vitality.

 This exciting adventure is possible through the excellent working relationship and cooperation between the Braxton County Board of Education, Fairmont State Community and Technical College, Braxton County High School staff, community input and support and student excitement at Braxton County High School.

Everyone in Braxton County looks forward to a new and positive beginning for the 2006-2007 school year.

 

Commentary

By Rod Godbey, CEO/Creative Analyst
GodbeyWorks, Charleston, WV

Here is the setup. You are a school leader and I am a business consultant. My leadership advice is this: Whatever your leadership role, be a facilitative leader.

Why, you might ask? Facilitative leaders use their authority or influence to make it easier for people to participate in the work being done. Today, more often than not, the leader that gets the most people to participate wins. Facilitative leaders empower people to work together to achieve a common goal.

They make it easier for people to:

The simple answer to why is that you get more done with more people, working in this way. Now, the question is, “How?”

I lead a workshop called “Facilitative Leadership,” which is developed by Interaction Associates and takes three full days to introduce the main practices. We don’t have enough time or room to cover all of that here.

However, one the introductory ideas from the workshop is the profile of a facilitative leader. A facilitative leader is strategic, collaborative, receptive and flexible.  Let’s look at this these ideas as the beginning of how you can be a facilitative leader.

Strategic

Part of the leader job is to remind others of the “big picture” and the overarching goal. This allows everyone to focus on high-leverage issues and activities.

It is always a good idea to discuss the big picture at the beginning of something new, but you also need to remind people along the way. This is especially true at critical moments, when something has changed or did not go according to plan.

Providing your perspective at these times can be very strategic in keeping people working together.

Another aspect of being strategic is taking the time to think about your approach of doing things. We all have our favorite ways of running meetings, making decisions, even celebrating. One size does not fit all. You should think about the people you are leading and be strategic about how you work with them.

One tool I use regularly is a stakeholder matrix, where I list each person on a project, list what a win is for them, and some ideas about how I might help them win.      Being strategic means putting in a little more up-front time thinking about and planning how you will run your next meeting, for example, but it pays off in the long run with more participation.

 Collaborative

Part of that strategic preparation creates opportunities for people to work together. You may not have been able to include everyone in deciding where you are going.

The overarching goal (big picture) that you keep reminding everyone about may have been handed down from on high. Yet you can still include everyone in the discussion about where we are now and how we are going to get to big-picture-land.           Promoting the value of win-win solutions is a great way to encourage people to collaborate. Sharing the power of decision-making can go a long way in getting people involved.

The trick is to choose the appropriate level of involvement for your team and explain it up front. Give yourself a fallback when using consensus decision-making.

For example, today we need to decide which software package we are going to buy (after all our research). I would like us to reach consensus by the end of this meeting. If we don’t reach consensus I will take your input into consideration and make the decision myself.

The other side of collaboration is showing people that you work with others. Avoid the leadership trap of thinking you always need to know or have the answer.

Show the people you lead that you can ask for help and work with others to find or make a solution. When you run into another leader and their team, look for ways to work together instead of worrying out loud about how they will get in your way. Think and talk win-win.

Receptive and Flexible

While you are being strategic and collaborative, actively encourage others to contribute. It may take a few attempts to get everyone involved, but it is worth the effort.

If you accept others’ ideas, perceptions and feedback in a non-defensive way, this will encourage more contribution. Remember there is more than one way to do just about everything.

Once you start planning ahead and getting people to participate in reaching your goals, don’t fall in love with the plan. Adjust plans along the way to meet changing needs.

Eisenhower is credited with saying something along the lines of, “Plans are meaningless, planning is everything.” So it is for a facilitative leader. Planning is strategic, collaborative and if you do it right, receptive and flexible.

Facilitative leaders use their authority and influence to make it easier for people to participate. Maybe soon we will say a good leader uses facilitation skills to help people reach a common goal.

I hope I have made it easier for you to decide to learn some facilitation skills for the next time you lead.

 

By Hoppy Kercheval
MetroNews Talkline Host

The literal distance from the state’s Eastern Panhandle to the state Capitol building is about 300 miles, according to Mapquest. It’s not a bad drive, interstate almost all the way.

But the figurate distance between these two points is vast.

The state Legislature will wrap up its work in Charleston without addressing the worsening teacher shortage in the panhandle. Berkeley County could have as many as 300 vacancies heading into the next school year.

Panhandle lawmakers supported legislation that set up a fund allowing school systems in the state’s fastest-growing counties as well as counties with teacher shortages in math, science and foreign languages to pay bonuses to try to attract teachers.

It was a reasonable attempt to use the principles of the free market to solve the problem.

The state Senate agreed, but the House of Delegates balked. House opponents Delegates Mary Poling, D-Barbour, and David Perry, D-Fayette, are among those who object to the bill.

Poling, a schoolteacher, and Perry, a school principal, told me on Metronews Talkline Friday that they believe the teacher bonus approach would not solve anything. In fact, they predict the bonuses would siphon teachers from counties where there are no bonuses to counties where there are.

I think they’re wrong.

The bonuses would only be, at most, a couple of thousand dollars. I doubt that would be enough to entice an established schoolteacher to pick up and move from Barbour to McDowell.

And any teacher thinking about relocating from a non-bonus county to Berkeley County would turn around and drive back home the same day once they check the real estate prices.

No, the bonuses are just a little something extra the designated counties could use to sign new teachers.

Just-released figures show Berkeley County is one of the fastest-growing counties in America, the 56th fastest to be exact. The dramatic increase in population is driving home and rental prices significantly higher than the rest of the state.

The bonuses would not — as some fear — put teachers in the growth counties head of their counterparts in the rest of the state. They would just help them keep up.

It sounds logical to think that a teacher in Jefferson County should be paid the same as a Barbour or Fayette County teacher with equal experience, but real world conditions are much different.

Some lawmakers who gather under the capitol dome understand that, but not enough. The space between their view of the state and the reality of conditions elsewhere is just too great.
Reprinted with permission of MetroNews. This column originally appeared March 20, 2006, at www.wvmetronews.com.

 

By Sammy Gray, Manager of Government and Regulatory Affairs – West Virginia American Water Company

I was honored when West Virginia School Boards Association Executive Director Howard M. O’Cull, Ed.D., asked that I write about the differences between being a legislative staffer and a lobbyist.

Even though I am relatively new to lobbying, I have experienced quite a contrast in the two positions.

I would like to take this opportunity to share my experience of the transition with you:

I was a Legislative Analyst for the Senate Education Committee for 10 years. I served two chairmen and worked through several major pieces of education legislation during my tenure with the committee. 

I left that position recently to work as a lobbyist for West Virginia American Water.  I was a difficult decision to leave the committee, but I had to seize the opportunity to further my career.

I quickly had to learn to sell something of which I knew very little.   As the session went on I worked hard to learn my issues and became familiar with them.  That was much easier than the other challenges that came with the job…The  next challenge was to convince the members of the Legislature, for many of whom I had worked, to see my issues favorably… 

The water company hired me because of my contacts at the Legislature and experience with the legislative process.  It was not because I had a vast knowledge of water utility policy and issues.  That was challenge number one – learning about the water utility and being its advocate.  I quickly had to learn to sell something of which I knew very little.   As the session went on I worked hard to learn my issues and became familiar with them.  That was much easier than the other challenges that came with the job.

The next challenge was to convince the members of the Legislature, for many of whom I had worked, to see my issues favorably.  I was quickly welcomed into the offices of the members who knew me, but the discussions were quite different than they had been in the past.  Rather than taking work orders or briefing them on education issues, I was working with them to make policy.  It was quite a different experience for a former staff member.  At first, it was difficult to be firm and forward with those who used to be my superiors, but it got easier throughout session.

Another challenge for me was to been seen as a peer among the other lobbyists I had not worked with before.  There seemed to be an adherent feeling among some of them that I was still an “insider” and would not, or could not, hold firm on positions that were seen as unfavorable by legislators.  With time and hard work this challenge became surmountable.  Once other lobbyists understood I was serious about lobbying and was working hard, they were ready to accept me as a real lobbyist.  Many of them came to appreciate my experience with the process, often asking me what steps a bill takes in the process. 

What do I see as the difference of being a lobbyist compared to being a staffer after experiencing the new challenges that come with the job?  First, I found that my experience being a staffer was a tremendous help in becoming a lobbyist.  After overcoming the transition in relationships with members, it was much easier talking to them because I knew them personally.  It would have been much more difficult if I had to lobby someone I had never met before.  Second, the relationships I had with the legislative staff proved to be invaluable.  They did not see me as a traitor, but as one of them that had moved on to a bigger and better career opportunity.  They were all the more helpful to one of their own.  Third, my knowledge of the legislative process proved to prepare me for the flurry of action on bills during the last days of the session and what I need to do to affect their outcome. That experience helped not only me and my company, but lobbyists who worked with me on issues.

Overall the transition from staffer to lobbyist was not as difficult as I had envisioned.  The relationships that I formed with other lobbyists, staff and members of the legislature helped make the transition much smoother that I had imagined.

Sammy Gray is the and former staffer of the West Virginia Legislature.

 

 

West Virginia Election Calendar

March

April

May

*lf no candidate requests recount and posts bond within 48 hours after results declared, county commission certifies election results.

*Election contest must be filed within 10 days after certification of election in county.

 

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Source: West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office. www.wvsos.org

 

Leave for Public Officials
Law allows leave for public officials

Several county board members have inquired about §6-5-12, a section of law that allows “leave of absence for public officials for performing public duties.” The statute reads as follows:

“Any person elected to a part-time public office or appointed to a part-time elected public office shall be entitled to a leave of absence from his or her private employment except when such employment is with an employer employing five or fewer persons on a full-time basis on the days or portions of any day during which he or she is engaged in performing the duties of his or her public office. The leave of absence shall not result in any penalty being imposed upon the persons entitled to the leave of absence: Provided, That such leave of absence may be without pay by the private employer.”

According to West Virginia School Boards Association counsel, the leave may apply to county board training because it is required by statute. However, legal counsel points out that the leave has certain restrictions based on the size of the firm employing the county board member and that it may be without pay.

For more detailed information, please contact WVSBA Executive Director Howard M. O’Cull, Ed.D., or counsel Howard E. Seufer Jr., Esq., Bowles Rice McDavid Graff & Love. Seufer’s telephone number is (304) 347-1776. O’Cull’s e-mail address is hocull@wvsba.org.

 

 

In the Know

Author describes obstacles between education leaders and citizens

In his new book, "Reclaiming Public Education by Reclaiming Our Democracy," David Mathews identifies a growing chasm between the American public and education professionals.

Mathews enumerates the goals citizens and educators alike want from public education before he sets to work pinpointing the obstacles that block progress. He focuses especially on significant differences in the ways citizens view problems in the schools and the ways professional educators and policymakers talk about them.

Some of the disconnections he identifies include: