By Heather Clower
The Parsons Advocate
With all board members present, the Tucker County Board of Education came together for a lengthy agenda consisting of distributing funds to all three county schools to assist in meeting some of their needs. Board President Tim Turner called the meeting to order before reciting The Pledge of Allegiance.
With no delegations or recognitions, the first to address the board was Attendance Director Amber Kyle. She offered a first semester report to the board, stating, “Tucker County Schools now have 967 students enrolled with 192 at Davis Thomas, 487 at Tucker Valley, 288 at the High School.” The countywide attendance rate sits at 93.5% with Davis Thomas at 94.55%, Tucker Valley 94.05%, and TCHS contributing 91.94% to the total. “Our goal is really to try to get to 95%,” Kyle expressed. She then provided the chronic absenteeism rates, which are students who have a history of continuously missing school. Davis Thomas is at 9.38%, which Kyle was extremely pleased with. Tucker Valley rate is 15.81% and TCHS is at 26.74% which lends to a 17.71% countywide rate for chronic absenteeism.
Time is being devoted to the students at TCHS meeting with those who fall into this category. Kyle has been sending letters to parents with students having attendance issues and has been meeting with parents on a regular basis. Within Davis Thomas, Kyle has performed 1 of these meetings, 13 at Tucker Valley, 37 at TCHS with 21 more scheduled this week. More would be taking place, however after Kyle sends more letters out informing parents of their child’s attendance issues, some parents choose not to respond. Certified letters are being sent after five absences to attempt to rectify attendance issues, though Kyle informed nearly 10 of these certified letters have gone unclaimed by the parents. “We have an attendance issue at the high school,” she confirmed, though it doesn’t seem to be the same problem as last year with students coming and going as they please. Board member Cathy Hebb asked about calling these individuals, and Kyle confirmed that is done in conjunction with the letters.
Kyle has had no choice but to resort to filing truancy against some parents as they are unwilling to rectify the situation per recommendation by Prosecuting Attorney Ray LaMora. “Right now we have probably 10 families in the court system,” she added. Hebb asked how long that process takes with a response of months due to improvement period protocol requirements and other legal standards. Kyle stated her biggest concern is when these chronic absent students reach high school level that it will result in the student dropping out. Her goal is to get some of these students into the court system to aid in preventing that.
Shifting gears, Kyle updated the board that the application for Energy Express has also been submitted with hopes to be granted for the program this summer. The 100 day of school is next week and students will be recognized with One or None Club for students with no or only one absence. Davis Thomas has completed their practice testing with students in preparation for the standardized testing with Tucker Valley on track to complete by the end of January. Kyle, along with Superintendent Alicia Lambert, have worked on surveys to broadcast to the staff seeking input on the 2020-2021 school year calendar which resulted in 98 responses. “We have a variety of responses to create the calendars from,” Kyle confirmed. Another survey was sent out to the parents, which received 195 responses that Kyle noted both surveys were quite similar in their results. She expects some options to be ready to present to the board in the near future. Hebb asked if there was some comparison information Kyle could provide relating to home school student trends, which she explained can be difficult due to their re-enrollment, graduation, transferring out of county, and other considerations, though she will work on gathering this data for the board. Prior to concluding her presentation, Kyle noted 65 enrollees in the county from the Ridgeline Center, with about half being at TCHS and half at TVEMS.
Next for a report was Kim Lipscomb with a special education monitoring review from November. She provided a copy of the report to the board and explained how this three day requirement is conducted in the school systems. Representatives spent half of the day at Davis Thomas while spending the afternoon at Tucker Valley with a whole day spent at the high school. 25 to 30 IEP (Individual Education Plans) documents are submitted weeks prior to their evaluation and on site consist of observations in the classroom and visiting with staff. Corrections were requested to be made, however Lipscomb assured this is typical of these reviews and that a perfect score is a rarity. Overviews were briefly discussed regarding these findings which were related to administration sign off sheets, facility accommodations specifically a resource room at TCHS, in school suspension procedures for certain student, and some co-teaching that can be addressed with professional development recommendations.
Lipscomb then focused the board’s attention on the areas of the review the result was less than 100% compliance. One related to simple wording that will be taken out of an IEP, another with transition assessment with seventh through twelfth grade students and methods used which is another easy fix, and a third was the need to remove wording such as “as needed”, “if needed”, “at discretion” will also be removed to accommodate another area with less than 100%. Adjustments being made to the wording used are to remove any questionable areas in the instance of a complaint being made. Another area receiving an unsatisfactory rating was the extent of participation adding a specific timeframe the students are involved with activities participated outside of the general classroom. Again, this can be easily remedied. The last area Lipscomb highlighted was pertinent to TCHS and the scheduling involving the Mt. Lion period not showing IEP students receiving verified services, which has already been addressed. “Overall I think it’s a beautiful report,” said Lipscomb showing the areas less than 100% were mostly addressed with wording reconfigurations, most of which already having been addressed. Lipscomb commended the staff on their diligent work in the area of special education and dedication to the students. Hebb requested Lipscomb extend her appreciation for their hard work to the staff involved in the special education department within the schools. Superintendent Alicia Lambert reiterated Hebb’s comment stating that with the a large majority of the Ridgeline Facility students having IEP’s, the time and devotion it takes to track all of those documents down for those students is so great that it goes to show the staff within Tucker County Schools are truly in the role of doing what’s best for the students. “They deserve the praise,” confirmed Lipscomb.
Principal at Tucker Valley Elementary Middle School Kelly Thompson began by showing a brief presentation that was produced by the TVEMS Media Team lead by Courtney Nestor. Vice Principal Ernie Gooding followed by expanding on the data provided by Kyle on the attendance and highlighted the strategic plan that is in place and areas that have already shown improvement. “If you look at our data from the end of last year, we were at 92.21% and our goal was to move that up to 93.5%, so you see where we’re out now is 94.05%, I feel we’re on target there,” began Gooding. “And if you look at our chronic absenteeism, at the end of last year we were at 24.34%, so if you look at where we’re at now (15.81%) with where we were then, I think we’ve made considerable improvements,” he continued. He explained how when working on the strategic plan it was obvious that all areas of address tied together from attendance, student achievement, and discipline.
During development of this plan, Gooding volunteered to lead the way with the discipline policy where they have streamlined the process while ensuring to stick with codes and policy. The main goal was to ensure consistency and uniformity throughout the school. Each teacher now has the same disciplinary forms one through four in their classrooms and all are aligned with the policy ensuring school wide uniformity. He readily admitted the first few weeks were busy as far as managing the behavior issues in the school until it was accepted by the students what was no longer acceptable and how the new administration was going to handle these issues. Gooding provided some data at the end of his report to the board with the help of Kyle to show the monitoring of the disciplinary issues and the trend as it peaked in October and has began to become manageable. Hebb asked if there were multiple variations of a level one offense, which Gooding confirmed there in fact were due to the nature of discipline and several areas requiring some investigation to gather all the information needed to respond accordingly. “The teachers have managed it real well in their classrooms,” he confirmed. The goal was a decrease of disciplinary write ups by 15% which at first seemed as though it wasn’t going to happen, however with diligence and consistency the administration feels it will happen eventually.
Gooding also provided a breakdown of the disciplinary write ups within TVEMS with 58% consisting of level one, about 35% being level two, level threes making up approximately 5%, and level four at 1%. He has noticed a trend in behaviors in a weekly analysis and feels that the trend leveled out with the continued efforts of the PBIS (positive behavior initiative) rewarding good behavior as well as the students accepting the expectations set by the teachers and administration. “Really, the last six to eight weeks or so, I think it’s starting to turn for the better,” he said. This leads Gooding to believe the goal of 15% can be achieved by the end of this year versus the initial thought of a potential two to three year timeframe. Board member Jessica Wamsley agreed that with the continuity the results are going to continue to positively.
Thompson returned noting that another key piece of the plan was to increase parent involvement; therefore, the LSIC (Local School Improvement Council) has been working diligently to encourage not only parent but student and staff participation as well. An LSIC is something that up until recently was non-existent at TVEMS, however Thompson feels it is having a positive impact on their goals and the participation is far exceeding expectation. “We have a lot of people that attend,” proclaimed Thompson. She offers a lot of the success is thanks to her staff working to make the meetings known, which also includes attendees such as OEM Director Kevin White and Corporal J.R. Wince with the WVSP.
Principal Thompson continued updating the board on the recent happenings and programs going on at TVEMS, such as the recent scavenger hunt that was a math based project that took place at Shop N’ Save, the One School One Book program, a Math Parent Night is scheduled for March, and a Watch Party for everyone to watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which is the book the school is reading. Another One School One Book is going to be scheduled to take place over the summer as well. She has also started an optional Thursday Thoughts program where the staff has a chance to answer a questionnaire regarding the pros and cons of the previous week. Recently Thompson has noticed more positive thoughts coming in which she noted, “That’s good for me to see.” The positive responses are also being sent out in a weekly bulletin to share with the staff throughout the school to see the good things happening at TVEMS. “That’s really ambitious with such a large staff,” Hebb noted as Thompson is welcoming input on what she can do to better serve the TVEMS team.
The PLC (Professional Learning Community) has also been gathering on a regular basis to discuss what has worked and what has not since their last meeting which helps keeps each class on a similar schedule. Thompson has purchased a program with CSI funds for her and Vice Principal Gooding to assist with their walk through events within the school which helps provide feedback and ask questions as they occur. She also plans to start Ten Minute Talks where teachers have time set aside to visit with the administration as an opportunity to gain insight to positive as well as negative happenings going on within that teacher’s classroom, lesson plans, or whatever that may be. The main goal of TVEMS is keeping everyone consistent and transparent which aids in lack of “grey areas”.
Thompson has met with their administrative coach on a regular base which she proclaims has been a huge asset to the success of all new administration in TVEMS. Scheduling for next year has a team in place to tackle this upcoming endeavor. The middle school is an area of focus to break up the crowded classes while working with some teachers who are only in the school half of the day. Lambert encouraged Thompson when working with part time staff to explore options of moving their time from morning to afternoon in conjunction with the other schools to determine which schedule will work best for all three schools. She then expressed her gratitude for the upcoming hiring of interventionists whom she feels will be a huge asset to the school, especially the lower grades. Test scores are going up though Thompson admits they’re not where they want to be, but they are on the right trend as students continue to prepare.
Before concluding her presentation, Thompson had a few recognitions she wished to make including the TVEMS Robotics team, lead by Christine Ward. “I think they did pretty good considering it was their first,” noted Ward. In the robot games, one team received second and one team fourth with great hopes of expanding next year. It has become so popular that students had to be turned away due to the teams being full. Fundraising will be taking place to try and make room for additional teams. Ward explained how the teams were developed within the parameters of capabilities, which were mostly fourth and fifth graders who had been involved in the STEM program for two years. Wamsley expressed her appreciation for the program and her desire to see it grow throughout all grade levels. “I really commend the effort on that,” she added, “I cannot say enough good things about it.” Lambert recommended Ward to look into Run For It as a fundraiser for this expensive program, which is around $300 per team to enter the competitions. Ward predicts needing around five teams to accommodate all students interested. Garrett County sponsored TVEMS this year paying their way so they could compete and grants are being sought to assist. Lastly, Thompson wanted to recognize Olivia Triplett on her achievement of Mayor for a Day. She will go next week and be recognized by the legislature on this award. Hebb requested notice of upcoming events and activities hosted by the school so the board members can attend if scheduling permits.
Moving on in the agenda under informational items, it was noted that Nathaniel Goldstein has finished courses and qualified for the three step pay increment program. The approval of the January 6 minutes was approved along with payment of the bills, budget adjustments, a notification of intent to home school, and out of state field trip request for the AP Literature Students to Staunton, Va.
Superintendent Lambert then recommended the employment of Emily Thompson as Intervention Specialist Itinerant at TVEMS pending release from Upshur County and background check, Jonna Burnside as Intervention Specialist Itinerant at TVEMS effective January 22, and Janelle Paul as Inteverntion Specialist Itinerant at DTEMS effective with the 2020-2021 school year. Paul’s position will be filled with a substitute for the remainder of this school year. Lambert continued with Christine Ward and Jeffrey Helmick as a homebound teacher at the rate of $25 per hour. Hebb made a motion to approve the Superintendents recommendation with a second by Board of Education Vice President Daniel “Chopper” Evans. Discussion commenced regarding the substitutes that will be in the position of interventionist and how to best go about filling this void until the new, permanent teacher will be appointed. Moving into service personnel, Lambert recommends the employment of Steve Frymyer for a 200 day contract maintenance position, which opens a custodian position at Davis Thomas School. Amy Nestor has requested an unpaid leave of absence effective January 27 until released by physician which was also approved.
Prior to discussing the financial statement, board member Chris Gross made a motion to go into executive session under personnel. Upon returning, no decisions were made as announced by Turner. The financial statement was then reviewed and explained by Finance Director Tracy Teets. She felt more comfortable with the report presented due to clarification of the Student Success Bill adjustments with Teets saying, “We look really good, I don’t have any concerns where we’re going to end up financially this year.” Evans asked for any information regarding future funding possibilities with the topics being covered in local news broadcastings; however, Teets was unsure of what to expect and has received no official word relating to future funds. Bringing attention to the paid bills section, Teets noted a check to the West Virginia Department of Education for roughly $29,000 that is a return in state aid that is sent based on an estimate on enrollment. The projection was Tucker County would increase enrollment and paid accordingly, however that wasn’t the case therefore money had to be returned for over payment.
The board then moved into voting on the items decided upon in work sessions to fund as requested by the school with the understanding that the amounts to be voting on are approximates because the final costs are not known until orders are placed. These items and approximate amounts include: TCHS tilt skillet $18,000, TCHS heating rack $2,000, DTEMS doors $50,000 which is earmarked but grants will be applied for first, DTEMS front entrance $5,500, TVEMS handicap bathroom $10,000, three lunch tables for TVEMS $3,900, TVEMS dishwasher $30,000, janitorial supplies $20,000, board docs $2,700 annually, and five day contract extension for school level secretaries $4,200. As each line item was read, discussion was opened to the board. Wamsley asked about doors at TCHS needing addressed and was informed a cost estimate is in the works. Lambert noted the allotment of $10,000 for the handicap bathroom isn’t expected to cost the full amount, however the largest expense will be when purchasing the future needed hydraulic lift. Wamsley asked if the lift will be mobile or stationary and was informed it will be bolted in place; however, it should be able to be relocated with some effort. Wamsley also expressed concern of waiting to purchase the lift versus purchasing now due to potential strain on the teacher or aid that is currently doing the lifting manually. The only other question was regarding board docs and upcoming training that will be required to use the new program. All were in favor to approve these expenses.
Dates were discussed to perform the Superintendent’s evaluation and contract renewal.
