The Tucker Count Board of Education met in regular session last week. Board President Janet Preston called the meeting to order, with all members present, the Pledge of Allegiance was held. Having neither presentations nor public comment, the board went on to agenda adjustments. Following one minor agenda adjustment, the board moved into consent items.
The minutes of the previous meeting were approved, with the addition of a person’s last name that had been omitted. The board unanimously approved the Superintendent’s recommendation to disapprove a student transfer request due to class size. The board approved the fieldtrip and out of state travel requests for both eighth grade classes. T.V.E.M.S. will be going to Kennywood and D.T.E.M.S. will be going to Six Flags in Maryland. Both classes raised their own funds necessary for the trip including the cost of substitute teachers. The board also approved the addition of Performance Auto Body as a T.C.H.S. Work Site Placement. The board then moved into Personnel Matters.
Employee Transfer Hearings were slated next for employees affected by the altering of two bus routes next year. Both affected drivers waived the hearing. The board then went on to accept the resignation of John Eye as a substitute teacher. It was noted that Eye is still acting as boy’s cross country coach however. The board then approved the employment of Michael Whetzel as substitute bus operator and Anita Roy as a substitute cook. The board then went on to approve the transfer of the two re-routed bus drivers, namely, Julie Hull and Michael J. Callaway.
Following Personnel matters the board moved on to legal matters where it voted to go into executive session. Upon return from executive session, the board announced that it voted to accept the Superintendent’s recommendation to expel “Student A” for a period of 365 days for a violation of Tucker County Safe Schools Act.
During finance the board unanimously voted to approve paid bills submitted for approval and having no budget revisions, they then went on to accept the financial update for February 2015. The also approved the schedule of proposed levy rates for fiscal year July 1, 2015- June 30, 2016. The levy rates come from the state auditor’s office and it was noted that whatever we gain from county taxes we then lose in funding from the state.
Having no old business the board moved into new business.
The board approved the bid from Frontier Business Edge to provide WAN (wide area network) services for the school system. It is a one year agreement and the rate was about the same as the previous year. E-rate funding reimburses the school system for this.
Having no more new business the board moved on to other business where the transportation report included a discussion regarding the impending arrival of the school system’s new truck. The board then entertained board committee updates.
Board member K. White said he had a safety committee meeting at T.V.E.M.S. where they lay out evacuation/intruder plans and are going to set up meetings with the school faculty to give them the opportunity to review said plans.
Board President J. Preston said she recently attended the exit meeting for the state audit of our school system. She reported that we had an unmodified (good) audit with only some minor findings. Superintendent Campbell said that this was probably the best exit meeting he’d attended since being here. Dave Lambert and Tracy Teets were commended for their work leading up to the audit.
Board Vice-President M. Parsons mentioned the upcoming annual science project for third graders where they get to raise chickens from eggs. He said this project was largely due to the help of an alumni from Parsons High School a Mr. Harry Sommerville.
Dr. Eddie Campbell gave the Superintendent’s report. He reported that even though Senate bill 359 failed there was still hope for relief from the mandatory instructional days. State Board of Education received a proposal from the State BOE Superintendent to allow school systems to apply for a waiver to get back some of their missed days. At the current rate students will be in session until June 15 and teachers until June 16. He will be meeting with the Principals to hear their opinions of what we need to ask for. Details regarding the waiver process are only just now coming in and the state board will be taking action on them at their meeting in early April. The superintendent and his staff plan on being proactive on this matter and turning in any necessary waiver to the state before the deadline.
Campbell also reported that the State BOE approved a second option to the common core standard which would allow schools to go back to the older method of singular classes ie… algebra, geometry, etc. instead of the current math 1, math 2, math 3, etc. that we currently use. Upon consulting with the principal of the high school and math teachers it was the consensus that it would not be advantageous for our school system to go back to the old system since our high school is currently among the top scoring schools in the state in mathematics.
Superintendent Campbell also reported on the required annual testing. The testing window begins at the same time but now the state allows us to back up the date to fit our school system’s needs. This will give our students the most time possible to prepare for these tests. Tests will probably be last week of May. Campbell shared sites where teachers, parents, and students can go to get up to date information on testing and practice and training tests. wv.portal.airast.org (for info) and wv.portal.airast.org/training-tests (for practice tests).
Having no further business, the board adjourned and at approximately 6 p.m. held a public hearing regarding the 2015-2016 school calendar. All board members were present and an audience of only four people. The board approved the agenda for the hearing and the guests were asked if they wished to address the board. All present declined so the Superintendent went back over the information previous discussed during the regular meeting regarding the possible relief waiver. Currently this school year we’ve missed 16 snow days which is less than last year. It was also noted that we have less snow days this year than Barbour, Nicholas, and Randolph counties thus far. It was mentioned that Nicholas County expects to have to go to school until June 28. The response to the board’s school calendar survey was discussed with the compiled results to be presented to the board as early as the next meeting.
Having no further business the board adjourned the public hearing.
The next meeting of the Tucker County School Board will be Tuesday, April 7, 2015. For more information contact the school board office at 304-478-2771.
