Board of Ed Concerned With Legislation to Eliminate Local Control

The main topic of concern at the most recent meeting of the Braxton County Board of Education, held on February 18, was legislation being introduced that would eliminate local control of the county’s school system.
Superintendent Dr. Donna Burge-Tetrick spoke to board members about her concerns with HB 2480 that has been introduced during this legislative session. This bill will reduce the 55 individual county school boards of education to 11 district boards. She noted that this will take power and control away from local boards in deciding how the school system operates and could adversely affect the quality of children’s education.
Board President Evelyn Post stated it would be “outrageous to take away local control of education” and the public “needs to be contacting our representatives and let Charleston know we are not happy.”
Kevin Gregory called the bill “insanity.” He also encouraged the public to take the time to understand current bills and legislation that will affect the educational system.
Superintendent Dr. Burge-Tetrick also briefly spoke about a few senate bills on education that are currently working through the legislative session.
The meeting opened with the Communities in Schools presentation by Dr. Leatha Williams. All of the plans implemented by the CIS program are set to reflect the county’s strategic goals including academic achievement, family engagement, decrease chronic absenteeism, and safety and security of schools. Susan Schiefer and Flora Cox reviewed data on attendance, discussed programs like math facts addressing academics, and programs working on getting the student’s family involved in their education at each school.
She reminded board members that the Spelling Bee would be held on February 20 at 1:00 pm.
Under regular business, the board approved the following consent agenda items on a motion by Dr. Kenna Seal: minutes of January 28 and February 4 regular meetings; budget transfers and supplements; and payment of bills.
The following personnel recommendations were approved on action led by Lisa Ratliff: resignations due to retirement for Sharon Desper, teacher at BCHS, Patricia Facemire, counselor at BCMS, and Linda Utt, early childhood classroom assistant teacher/aide, Flatwoods; employment of Kathryn Singleton, special education teacher, Davis, substitute teachers-Adam Dobbins and Connor Capron, Tanya Hall, LPN/aide, Burnsville, substitute custodians-Steve Boggs and Clifford Nettles, Robert Moffatt, custodian, BCHS, Andrew Green, general maintenance/HVAC mechanic II, and Seth Warner, assistant baseball coach, BCMS; permission to post and hire Program Assistant, federal programs; Step 3 pay increase in special education for Sebrina Grose; and payment of $500 early retirement bonus for Linda Utt and Patricia Facemire after an executive session from 6:29 pm to 7:32 pm to discuss personnel items.
Dr. Leatha Williams discussed the RFPs received for Math, Reading and Writing Professional Development. The board approved the RFP for Reading Instructional Delivery-Brainspring Educator Academy-K-12, Math Instructional Resources and Professional Development-Curriculum Associates K-5 Core Instruction, Heinemann/Do the Math K-12: Intervention Tier II and Tier III, Beyond Classroom, Grades 6-12, and Supplement Writing Resources and Professional Development-Teaching Lab Grades 6-12 on a single motion by Kevin Gregory.
Other agenda items approved by the board on separate motions were: Affiliation Agreement with WVU School of Social Work; Memorandum of Agreement with West Virginia Fusion Center; retro-active permission for BCHS Honor Band Members, Director and Volunteers to attend WVU Creative Arts Center from February 13-15, using county van for transportation to and from event; permission for BCHS Honor Band Student and Director to attend Marshall University from February 19-21, using county van for transportation to and from event; second reading of proposed revision to Policy 3400-Time Schedules and Workloads; second reading of proposed revision to Policy 3620-Employee Travel; and the third and final reading of proposed revision to Policy 4115-Student Attendance. Comments on Policy 3620 and Policy 4115 were addressed by Superintendent Dr. Burge-Tetrick and the corrections were made to the policy before their approval.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:27 pm. The next regular meeting is scheduled for March 4 at 6:00 pm. As always, members of the Braxton County community are encouraged to attend regular board meetings. Any parent or concerned community member wishing to speak as a delegate or with public concerns may do so by signing in up to 15 minutes prior to the start of the meeting.