By Stephen Smoot
As the portion of the year dedicated to education winds down in anticipation of summer break, plans for maintenance heat up along with the weather. During the first meeting for the month of May, board members listened as staff discussed maintenance and other needs.
After reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, J. D. Wilkins, board president, provided the invocation, which included, “Lord, we thank You for this opportunity to meet tonight for the good of the people and students of Pendleton County.”
“We thank You for the great staff we have. We thank You for the good year we’ve had,” he said.
Superintendent Nicole Hevener shared her appreciation for staff, noting the recent passage of Cooks’ Day, Administrative Assistants’ Day, Principals’ Day, Bus Drivers’ Day” and this week is Teacher Appreciation Week. So thank you to all our staff!”
“We couldn’t do what we without them,” she added.
The board approved resignations suggested by the superintendent, which included Madison Day, English teacher and volleyball coach.
Hevener stated that the treasurer’s report would be moved to the May 19 meeting. She also noted bills to be paid, including part of the cost for new bleachers at Pendleton County Middle/High School. She explained that they “were paid partially by county funds and partly by school and booster funds.”
She also shared that when the actual cost of PEIA insurance was compared to estimated cost by the state, that the amount needed from Pendleton County Schools declined.
Additionally, the cost of providing dental insurance will increase from 2026 to 2027, moving from $78,472 to a little more than $84,000.
Hevener also reported that J. P. Mowery, absent for this meeting, had related that “federal grant allocations have been reduced by almost $50,000, including a larger than expected decrease for fiscal year ’27 that was just received in this past week.” Combined with last year, it represents a decline of about 13 percent.
“So, this along with other information,” said Hevener, “just indicates that we have to be more vigilant than ever looking ahead to future budgets.”
Travis Heavner provided the facilities report, which opened with a report on a visit from the West Virginia Board of Risk Management. He explained, “They do a walk through the county to look at our facilities, take pictures, and they’ll give us a report back.” The representatives got to examine all the buildings.
“We’ll get that report back at some point and see what recommendations, suggestions they make for us,” said Heavner.
He next reported concerning work on solving the HVAC based pressurization issues at Franklin Elementary School. “We are going to move forward with that this summer,” he said. Work will start in late June and is expected to run between two and three weeks. Heavner noted that while some discussion had proposed moving Energy Express from FES to PCM/HS, the lack of children’s playground equipment was a factor in keeping the program in place.
“We’ll work after hours once the program is over on Fridays when there are no kids in there.” Work would also occur on the second floor and in areas of the building unused by Energy Express.
Heavner next shared information on a visit from Mark Miller from the School Building Association. He stated that he showed Miller potential projects that needed funding help, including issues with the roof and HVAC at Brandywine Elementary School. “I felt, overall, it was a good meeting with him and he had a couple of suggestions for us to send back,” Heavner commented.
