By Stephen Smoot
With the onset of August, the new school year looms large. As teachers and students ready themselves for another session, the Pendleton County Board of Education and superintendent labored to complete summer work and prepare for classes to open.
JD. Wilkins, board president, offered the customary invocation, praying, “Bless all the work that’s going on.”
One of the first orders of business lay in Nicole Hevener, superintendent, expressing appreciation for the work done over the summer to prepare each facility for students. “The maintenance team had a lot to do in a little time,” she explained, adding that “a lot of our projects started this week.”
JP. Mowery then delivered the treasurer and financial report. He started with discussing the highlights from bills to be paid for July. He noted that “it’s a little more quiet in the summer, but we do have bills to pay, obviously.”
These included another round of major repairs to a school bus, the charge this time for $21,879.03. “That’s still pretty high,” said Mowery, who added “that’s a pretty substantial repair. Hopefully that is coming to a pause.” The county school system will eventually receive most of those funds back via reimbursement.
Another bill totaled $4,400 to address the condition of the field shared by the football and baseball squads. Later in the meeting during the facilities report, Travis Heavner shared that “we’ve neglected that field for 20 years. The baseball and football coaches asked for help.” The help this time came largely in the form of liming and seeding with plans in the future to use soil and sand to level the surface.
As far as the turf is concerned, Heavner said, “It’s as green as it’s ever been this time of year” due to the rainy summer.
Other expenses included approximately $12,000 for HVAC repair and maintenance in different locations, $4,158.45 for Mountaineer ChalleNGe Academy tuition, and $4,250 for spraying weeds near property boundary lines, which saves considerable labor time over constant weed eating.
Heavner provided the facilities update, starting with the damage to the Harold Michael Building at North Fork Elementary School. Lantz has started preliminary work on a project expected to last through September. The damage will not prevent access to the gymnasium. Heavner said, “We can still use the rest of the building.”
Security needs will be met through a grant that will pay for security film in the windows of Pendleton County Middle/High School. Heavner also applied for funding to do the same in all county elementary schools, but word has not returned about the disposition of that application.
Heavner echoed the praise from Hevener directed at crews getting schools ready. He shared that he’d been impressed with the custodial staff as they worked around events such as Energy Express and “moved faster than we anticipated” in getting seasonal tasks completed.
Also, he related that the long-awaited locker replacement for the middle school had finally occurred. “That was a big one,” he said, then stated “they came in from Canada . . . they look really nice.”
Mowery then discussed various policy changes up for either the first or second reading. Just as with county commission and town council ordinances, the board of education must hold a first reading on policy changes, give the public an opportunity to respond, then hold a second reading in a later session prior to passing it as final.
One of the policies at the first reading stage regarded students who transfer out of their attendance district. A policy is in place that imposes standards of attendance and behavior on students who transfer in from other counties. Now the same standards will be applied to students who transfer out of their attendance zone, but within the county.
Other policies on first reading included raising the number of personal days allowed employees to five from four. This update, based on state code, was followed last year but the change had not yet come to the official policy manual. Adjustments also took place to the amount of vacation earned via years of service with the county school system.
On second reading, the personal electronic device policy change included some “tweaks” after staff input. Proposed policies (or ordinances with local elected government bodies) can adjust between the first and second readings.
The main change to the student personal electronic device policy came in the addition of the phrase that applies all students from pre-K to 12th grade “student behavior can escalate consequences.” This means that while a set punishment for number of violations is in place, should students behave badly related to the phone or its seizure, they may get in additional trouble.
Hevener informed all that they will make caddies available to each classroom for students to store their devices during instructional time. Some students may receive waivers based on medical needs or their individualized educational plan, for those who have one.
Concerning the policies on first reading, the superintendent went on to say that public comment opportunities will remain open until Aug. 18, the day prior to the next regular board of education meeting. She explained also that the documents contain crossed out sections that will no longer be part of policy as an effort to be fully transparent.
Heavner added that nurses will have iPads that can link to students on digital health monitoring systems, enabling constant monitoring of their conditions. Katie Hott, board member, replied, “That’s great!”
The board approved those policies that went through a second reading.
Additionally, The Pendleton Times will from time to time feature a column from Hevener. This will help to further facilitate communication and understanding between the county schools and the Pendleton County community.
