By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
The Tucker County School Board met in a double header of their regular session followed by a special session to address the Levy Order and Rate Sheet.
The Board addressed the upcoming vacancy of Activities Coordinator due to the resignation of Sheryl
Kines effective the end of the 2022-2023 school year. The Board accepted the resignation with a four to zero
vote. There was discussion of how to fill the position. There was concern that the duties may be too
much for one person to manage.
Alicia Lambert, Superintendent commented, “My preference is to post it as it is and see if we get anybody and if not, we’ll get splitting it…that’s it. Maybe it is too much for one person to handle…So that is something worth considering. I don’t specifically know how we would split it, maybe down the middle.”
Lambert reported in the meeting on a trip to Grand Canyon University. The Board
approved in a four to zero vote for the district to participate in the PLLS program and partner with Grand
Canyon University on an annual basis. The contract can be renewed annually.
“With the amount of counseling and advisers they have for students…it made it seem that it would be
impossible not to succeed there,” Lambert said.
The partnership Lambert said will benefit both students and staff with discounted tuition, free application to the school, and campus tours that are all expenses paid by GCU. The program also offers teacher resources such as lessons from professors with all supplies provided by GCU and dual credit
opportunities at $52.50 per credit hour with more strict GPA requirements than other schools.
The Ohio-WV Youth Leadership Association representative Jessica Wamsley addressed the Board on a
grant funded opportunity for students. The proposal was described as civic related and consisting of six 30-minute sessions.
“The pilot is fully funded, its fully staffed, its everything. It’s even going to include a discounted rate for
schools to send their students to Youth in Government Seminars,” Wamsley said.
Wamsley said the program would be run on a club-styled student-driven format with it being school run
with community partners after the grant-funded two-year period. The Board approved the proposal with a four to zero vote.
Board members approved the hire of two Extra-Curricular Personnel. Effective the 2023-2024
school year, Carmon DiBacco will become Assistant Football Coach at TCHS and Elizabeth Smith will
become the Athletic Director at TVEMS. The motion was passed with a four to zero vote.
In a four to zero vote, the Board agreed to the Superintendent’s recommendation of the reduction of hours for Stephanie Murphy, Itinerant Transition Specialist/ Job Coach to half time at TCHS. Murphy will remain in her position at Tucker Valley.
The Board approved four Out-of-State Travel requests for field trips: DTEMS students will be travelling
to Kennywood Park in PA; the Senior trip to Virginia Beach, VA; a student will attend the SREB
Conference in Orlando, FL; and a Pre-K trip to the Pittsburgh Zoo.
Board members also completed the third and final reading of the district’s Nalozxone policy and approved the new policy with a four to zero vote. The new policy will allow the district to have Narcan on site in case of an emergency.
All members were present with the exception of Daniel “Chopper” Evans, President of the Board. In this
absence, Board Vice President Teresa Simmons chaired the meetings.
