By Stephen Smoot
Though the school year has started winding down and senioritis has gripped the 12th-grade class, the work of maintaining the system for students continues in the first regular meeting for the month of May.
At the opening of the meeting, the board members, superintendent, and other officials watched as Ross Pownell proudly presented his state level award winning social studies fair project in the field of sociology.
In the opening invocation, J. D. Wilkins, board president, prayed, “We thank You for this young man who is about to do the presentation.”
Travis Heavner explained that Pownell’s project “was very successful” and that he “competed at the state level and won that competition as well.”
“I’m a theater kid!” Pownell announced, adding that he has “participated in two community theaters.”
The project covered the history of small community theaters as they grew in the shadow of established larger operations that mostly featured Shakespeare and the Greek and Roman classics. Most of it, however, examined community theater today, as well as its impact on both participants and the community at large.
Its core conclusions came from a survey that Pownell had conducted on community participation in theater programs.
At the end, he spoke also about his work with McCoy’s Grand Theater in Moorefield.
After the board members and superintendent applauded and praised the presentation, the work of the meeting commenced.
“Today is National Teacher Appreciation Day,” said Charles Hedrick, who started his final month as Pendleton County Schools superintendent before his retirement in June. He praised the “outstanding job they do every day.”
J. P. Mowery then opened his reports on issues of the treasury and finance.
He provided the current and extraordinarily healthy balance of funds due to the “large amount of taxes coming in April” from property tax receipts. Since the end of March served as the deadline for tax payments, he added that “this is not a trend that will continue upwards.”
“We didn’t really have any large bills coming in the month of April,” said Mowery, but he shared the bills coming up for payment in May. This included $3,780 to compensate Pendleton County Emergency Rescue for its presence at athletic competitions.
To the plus side, the county school system will also receive three grants whose total falls just shy of $100,000.
Mowery and then Heavner discussed the progress of three long-term maintenance projects as the school year winds down and the summer break starts. These included the plan to replace broken and aged lockers in the middle school section of Pendleton County Middle/High School, repair the HVAC at Franklin Elementary, and the completion of the installation of the new alternative education building situated behind PCMHS.
A three-year proposal was laid out to replace the lockers, which comes with a significant cost that ranges between $70,000 and $80,000. Pilgrim’s Pride will make a donation from its community fund to help to defer costs.
Heavner told the board members and superintendent that work would start almost immediately “to get things in place to see if they can be installed before the next school year.”
Wilma Pitsenbarger, board member, expressed concerns that a past lack of supervision of students led to some of the damage that necessitated the replacement of the lockers.
The issues with the Franklin Elementary School HVAC system and its effect on internal pressure also could bring high costs. Heavner explained that he is pursuing a two track approach, both applying for a grant to pay for major repairs, but also inviting a team from a Clarksburg-based company to see if less costly repairs could produce the same desired results.
While those two projects are still in the opening phases, a third nears completion. The long saga of the alternative education building will officially come to a close on May 20. Junior Helmick, who leads inmate education programs at Huttonsville Correctional Facility, “will be bringing a crew of his guys” for a final walkthrough and dedication ceremony.
Heavner explained that would “thank all the people who contributed to getting a nice building down there.”
