Board of Education Hears Reports from Burnsville, Davis Elementary Schools

The most recent meeting for the Braxton County Board of Education was held on Wednesday, November 6 at the board office adjacent to the Braxton County Middle School.
The meeting started with presentations from Davis and Burnsville Elementary School.
Burnsville Elementary Principal Dr. Grace Wine reviewed the school’s motto and goals along with action steps to reach those goals. Addressing chronic absenteeism and academic growth are the major goals for the school along with parent engagement.
Josh Porto, Davis Elementary Principal spoke to board members about the goals for his schools including, math and ELA score improvements, attendance, and parent and community involvement. He reviewed strategies to meet those goals. Principal Porto also spoke about challenges at the school and the help the board can provide to address those challenges.
Superintendent Dr. Donna Burge-Tetrick gave several updates to board members. First, she discussed the recent release of PSAT scores for the high school. The scores reflected improvement from last year and were only one point below the state level in both math and ELA.
She then discussed the Alternative Education Program. The meetings are going well, however through the process she found out that a document had been given to teachers previously that allowed for multiple level 3 or 4 offenses before expulsion. She told Board members that this is incorrect and she is addressing the issue to remove disruptive students from the classroom.
Dr. Burge-Tetrick informed the board she would be addressing the state School Building Authority to request $6 million to replace the HVAC units throughout all county schools. She is requesting that the system receive funding annually to work on getting the facilities in better repair as they continually support other counties with larger budget surpluses, year after year.
Work has begun on creating more opportunities for academic events such as the spelling bee and math field day. A social studies fair and science fair will be added to the calendar to provide students the chance to explore and excel in those fields.
She also congratulated the Braxton County High School cross county girls’ team on their second consecutive state championship title and the BCHS cheer team which placing first at a recent cheer competition.
Dr. Burge-Tetrick noted students are participating in more student organizations and are feeling like they are part of something bigger.
She briefly updated board members on the meetings with the county building commission for the release of the funds to move forward with the sports complex. The closing on the property may come as soon as the first week of December. Board President Evelyn Post noted she had been contacted by a Braxton County High School graduate who would like to make an anonymous donation to the athletic complex project.
The plan to update the athletic building at the football field have changed. Doing away with the existing structure is no longer an option. The wrestling team will be working on enclosing and remodeling the building as you come up drive to the schools, previously used by the Building Construction Class.for their practice room.
Dr. Leatha Williams, Director of School Improvement, addressed the board members with an update on HB 3035-overall student performance numbers for reading and math. She provided the recent numbers submitted to the state department on the benchmark testing. Attendance is still a major issue but it is being tackled with various programs.
Under regular action, the board approved the following consent agenda items on a motion by Larry Hardway: minutes of the August 20 regular meeting, September 3 regular meeting, and September 17 regular meeting; budget transfers and supplements; and payment of bills.
The following personnel recommendations were approved on a motion by Kevin Gregory: employment of Kathryn Singleton, Title I-STEM/College Career Readiness teacher, Davis, substitute teachers-Kristen Cox, Nathan Smarr, Brittany Boggs, Brittany Blake, Megan Drenk, Carrie Harper and Jennifer Rhodes, Misty Jackson, pre-k ECCAT/aide, Frametown, Nathaniel Putnam, bus operator 37A, Breann Baultrippe, special education/supervisory/instruction/transportation aide III, BCHS, Timmie Maze, long term substitute custodian, BCHS, Allison Given-Nettles, substitute aid, Folondi Shaver, transportation/instruction/supervisory/special education aide, BCMS, Timmie Maze, substitute custodian, Terry Green, HVAC mechanic/general maintenance, Judith Boyce, yearbook coach, BCMS, and Lisa Legg, custodian, BCHS athletic building; resignations for James Smallwood, long-term substitute custodian, BCHS, Misty Williams, aide, BCMS, Christopher Wriston, bus operator, Melissa Keener, head volleyball coach, BCHS, and Leigh Copen, assistant volleyball coach, BCHS; approval of Step 3 Pay Increase for Special Education teacher for Chloe Walker, volunteer approval for Jennifer Perrine; permission to post and hire for mentor teachers for new teachers, one part-time STEM interventionist each for Sutton, Burnsville, and Flatwoods; and leave request for Karen Harper, cook, BCMS.
Various other agenda items were approved on separate motions including the approval of TOD services for a hearing impaired student, shared service agreement for HVAC services with Webster County Schools, WVDE recommendation to raise the capitalization threshold from $5000 to $10,000 to be applied to future purchases, clinical teacher of record agreement between WVU and the board, local beef RFP for Buzz Products for the annual cost of $27,667.50 for both 2024-25 and 2025-26 fiscal years, contract agreement between the WV State Armory Board and BCS for sporadic use of the armory for winter sports’ practices and events due to scheduling conflicts with BCHS gym, first reading of proposed revision to Policy 2402-Retention, Promotion, Acceleration, Placement, second reading of proposed revision to Policy 3425-Transportation Employees’ Alcohol and Substance Abuse Policy, and the repeal of Policy 3630-Vacations as it addressed in Policy 3600.
The board members ended the meeting congratulating the recent success of the high school’s girls’ cross country team and cheer team, and the middle school Knights football on their undefeated season before the championship game. They talked about the excitement in the county as things are moving forward for students both academically and in athletics.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:27 pm. The next regular meeting is scheduled for November 19 at 6:00 pm.