PARSONS – Everyone knows West Virginia’s state budget is in a crisis situation and unfortunately, it is having an effect on many levels, including funds provided to county school systems. Tucker County Schools have been losing students, and BOE members will have to take action to reduce two professional positions and one service personnel position next year – a task they do not want to do, but realize they must do.
BOE members met with those requesting hearings regarding their Reduction in Force and Transfer status. Four professional staff on Monday and five professional staff on Tuesday met with BOE members in order to present their case and let members know how valuable each is to providing the best possible education for the students of Tucker County.
Those requesting hearings are given the option of an open or closed hearing. Only one of the employees requested an open hearing. Stephanie Hood, Title I instructor at Tucker Valley Elementary Middle School. American Federation of Teachers Staff Representative Ryan Michael, representing Hood, said he realizes this is one of the toughest times of the year.
“It is especially harder for smaller counties like Tucker because these teachers know the board members and there is a connection,” Michael said. “Everyone knows everyone so this presents challenges in a community this size.”
Michael asked BOE members how they got to Stephanie as one of those included in the RIF and Transfers.
“Stephanie is on this list because we are going to make some changes in Title I,” Tucker Superintendent Dr. Eddie Campbell said. “That required a Title I teacher be put on the Transfer list. That teacher is one of the more senior teachers in the county which requires me to look for a position for that individual to take. We obviously go to the bottom of the seniority list and start from there. Unfortunately for Stephanie, that is where this person would fall because of that Title I change we need to make.”
Campbell said the county is over the state aid formula by two professional staff and one service personnel staff members.
“That is not counting Title I,” Campbell said. “Stephanie’s is not a result of the two we are over professionally.”
“First of all, thank you so much for allowing me to come and talk to you,” Hood said. “I just feel that you and RESA have invested so much. I have attended a Mathematics Design Collaborative. It is provided to our county through RESA in conjunction with the Southern Regional Education Board and I have been in that for two years. I am the only TVEMS teacher fully trained in this process.”
Hood said she was selected by the MDC Coaches to be videotaped demonstrating the teaching strategies we have been doing nationwide. She said the goal was to implement the strategies school-wide at TCEMS.
“If I am not there, it is going to be difficult for them to do that,” Hood said. “With what is happening with RESA, they might not be there. I feel this is a bad situation to know that we have no math program. I am there, I am willing to be there and I have been investing time. It is really sad. Math is really important and we are struggling in that area.”
Other professionals requesting a hearing Monday include Becky Moore from the Alternative School, Emilee Amaro who teaches second grade at TVEMS and Valerie Eye who teaches fourth grade at DTEMS. Hearings on Tuesday included Amy Moore who is a technology integration specialist at TVEMS, Lisa Smith who teaches kindergarten at TVEMS, Brittany Taylor who teaches fourth grade at TVEMS, Tracy Harlan who is a Title I teacher at TVEMS and Heidi Hamric who is a technology integration specialist at DTEMS and TCHS. All of these instructors requested their hearings be closed.
No decisions on the RIF and Transfer hearings were made following those hearings. The BOE agenda for 4:30 p.m. April 3 lists action will be taken on the RIF’s and Transfers.
Campbell said some of those listed on the RIF and Transfer list is precautionary because the state has told them to anticipate at least a 10 percent cut.
“We are looking at that. As a result we have to look at our people and decide how many we can bring back,” Campbell said.
Campbell said at the April 3 meeting, he will bring a list of recommendations to the Board which will include who he thinks should be transfers and those who he would recommend for reduction in force.
“The Board will act on that,” Campbell said. “At that point, we can go to work rebuilding around the idea we have two cuts in professional and one in service personnel. We can go back to rebuilding and restructuring in all three schools from a personnel standpoint.”
Campbell said anyone who is a RIF is placed on a preferred recall list.
“What that means is if any job becomes vacant in the county that they are certified for, we as a county are required to notify them that we have a position they are qualified to fill and at that point, they become an automatic applicant and they will compete for the job just like any other applicant would,” he said. “Should they be successful, the job would be theirs.”
Campbell said he and BOE President Tim Turner spoke and decided not to make the decisions directly following the hearings.
“This gives up a little bit of extra time for the board to let these things soak in and allow people to explain,” Campbell said. “We are well ahead of our deadline now. So should we decide we don’t want to do one of the things that we are looking at doing, we have the opportunity to change that before we actually come to action.”
Campbell said his comfort level is better this way.
“In the past, when we only had one or two, it is pretty much a slam dunk. If they want a hearing they have a hearing and you can vote. But when you are looking at between 16 and 20, I felt a whole lot more comfortable having those extra weeks built in there. We have until May to make our final decisions and having hearings earlier gives us more time to think through this because we are dealing with so many individuals. I know it’s important to me and it is important to our Board Members that we are thinking this thing through as best as we possibly can to assure we are making the best decisions possible.”
Campbell said it has been a long time since the Board had to make RIF and Transfer decision.
“The first year I came in we made major changes or else we would have been in serious financial trouble,” Campbell said. “We have been able to manage it because we go ahold of it that first year. We have been able to manage it through attrition. Someone will retire and we say we don’t need to replace that right now. It has made it a lot easier. But we are down to bare bones minimum at this point. We looked at the retirements we had this year and found we had to replace the position. We couldn’t find the two.”
Campbell said for Tucker BOE to cut two positions is significant.
“Everything the people said in their hearings is absolutely accurate,” Campbell said. “The value they have in the school system is absolutely accurate. These guys have a tough job – we have to find who is going to have the least impact on the least amount of kids in the system.”
Campbell said this is a hard decision for the board to make.
“We have so many good, dedicated workers who do phenomenal things we are not even aware of,” Tucker BOE President Tim Turner said. “Due to enrollment we have to make cuts. That affects four or five small counties in the same way. People think a drop of 20 kids is not a lot. But for a small county, it is huge – it’s a teacher. We are at bare bones and after this all settles out, we lose what the state says we have to lose. There is nothing left to do except to enlarge class sizes.”
