By Stephen Smoot
“We are so thankful that You allowed God back in our schools with these posters,” shared Sonny O’Neil, board member, during the traditional invocation. He asked a blessing on posters that read “In God We Trust” now affixed to the walls of school facilities statewide as he stood in for J. D. Wilkins, board president.
Linda Hedrick, who took over as interim library director, gave a presentation on activities and changes to Pendleton County Library.
Board members heard the announcement that Dylan Eye, who competed at states representing the varsity golf squad, earned the James Huffman Responsible Student of the Month award. He had also earned placement on the all A honor roll.
Ty Heavner earned Academic Student of the Month. In addition to standing out in football and basketball, he also serves as vice president of the Future Farmers of America and has earned numerous awards for livestock and farm equipment competition success.
Next, J. P. Mowery provided the treasury and financial reports. He explained that federal allocations may decrease by $70,000 from $408, 599.20 to $328,210.27 in fiscal year 2026. Mowery stated that this would not put an undue financial burden on Pendleton County Schools. Funds can shift from other parts of the budget to cover the shortfall.
He said, “We’re doing it. We’re making adjustments . . . we have enough there.” That said, Mowery also delivered cautionary words that PCS must still keep its eye on future developments and plan accordingly. “Even if we have a surplus, there are pressures out there we need to stay cognizant of,” noted Mowery.
One of the reasons for declining funding comes from a positive development. Pendleton County no longer qualifies for certain funding related to children in poverty. Child poverty in the area does not rise to the level of many other counties in West Virginia.
O’Neil asked Mowery about an update regarding Secure Rural Schools funding. This source of federal monies comes to counties that host national forest lands. Mowery replied that it’s “apparently logjammed in the House now” and that it had been set for renewal at the close of August.
While being interviewed for the Moorefield Examiner last week during a slate of county commission meetings, Congressman Riley Moore (R – WV 1) shared that he does not expect the House of Representatives to return to the question of renewal until after the federal government shutdown ends.
Congressman Carol Miller (R – WV 2) represents Pendleton County in Congress.
Nicole Hevener, Pendleton County Schools superintendent, provided the update on North Fork Elementary School music room repairs. Damage done by a vehicle colliding with the building will be completely repaired soon. Paint had just covered the walls and floor tiling was expected to be installed soon.
Hevener shared that she liked “the nice fresh blue paint” and noted “that was quite a job. That job is almost done.”
She then went to the board members for permission to purchase a bus, stating that PCS has “maintenance issues with various buses.” Both Pendleton and Hardy counties in recent years have experienced mounting frustrations with the quality of new buses.
Kristy Tritapoe, assistant superintendent, shared that a bus purchased last year will soon receive some of the final work needed in Beckley and that a second bus ordered will come later in the year.
Officials noted that the year or more delay in delivery must be incorporated into planning for purchase, but Mowery interjected that times have improved a little of late. The price of a bus, though mostly covered, runs to more than $160,000, currently. Buses that carry up to 77 passengers are not much more expensive than smaller vehicles designed to hold 55.
“The buses we have are getting a lot of miles,” she stated. Mowery added that “nobody is super pleased with how often the buses break down.” Much of the problem seen in Pendleton County comes from the added electronics in newer buses that cause additional problems from time to time.
Other school systems that took advantage of reduced price electric buses have also seen their limitations. Discussion revealed that Randolph County Schools received one, but it likely only operates within built-up areas. Testing by Potomac Highlands Transit Authority several years ago concluded that electric buses cannot function in the West Virginia highland environment due to challenging road grades and temperature extremes.
Carrie Nesselrodt provided the second month attendance report, sharing that “overall, we had pretty good second month attendance.” The entire county system maintaining a 94.318 percent thus far “is really pretty good,” she added. Chronic absences countywide also hovered around 14 percent, which means, said Nesselrodt, “We are in pretty good shape.”
Chronic absences kick in when a student has missed 10 percent of the days so far in the school year.
“The high school and North Fork. I want to point them out” for reducing chronic absence rates, said Nesselrodt, who went on to state that “everyone is doing a really great job. We can’t teach if they are not there.”
Hevener followed that with a discussion of her plan to hold work sessions between central office staff and school administrators. These sessions would include reviews of student data with goals of identifying areas of needed support, areas of growth and success, and also provide “more narrow and specific focus.” Through these sessions, central office personnel can provide even more assistance to school administrators when and where needed.
Finally, evaluation scores from the West Virginia Department of Education came forth. Pendleton County met expectations in nearly every field, but got dinged in “post-secondary achievement.” Mowery explained that he had reached out to officials at the local and state level and received no response explaining what the category meant or how a school system could improve it.
For whatever it is worth, Monongahela County, home of West Virginia University and one of the wealthiest systems and counties in the state, also was marked down in that field.
