By Stephen Smoot
The soon-to-be newest member of the Pendleton County Board of Education wasted no time in getting to know her new colleagues. Prior to the second meeting of the month of May, the board welcomed Wilma Pitsenbarger, who had come to observe the proceedings.
The meeting started with a prayer by J. D. Wilkins, board president, who said, “We thank You for the opportunity to be here and serve.”
- P. Mowery, treasurer and financial officer, provided the budget for approval, along with an accompanying report. The highlight of the report lay in an approximately $1.2 million dollar balance to the good that the school system can carry over from fiscal year 2024 to fiscal year 2025. He admitted that the figure provided “may be a bit conservative.”
Additionally, interest rate hikes in recent years have spurred a higher amount of earnings from accounts. This year to date, Pendleton County Schools has earned $81,466 in interest with that number expected to get close to $95,000 by year end.
Another important point lay with the expansion of the budget from FY 24 to FY 25. Mowery reported that the budget would expand from $17,650,502.07 to $19,464,837.92. Sonny O’Neil, board member, asked, “What’s the normal change in a year?” Mowery responded, “Normally between two and three percent,” but pay raises and rising insurance costs forced the rise this time.
Toward the conclusion of the meeting, Carrie Nesselrodt discussed attendance during the year. Best individual grade percentage came from North Fork Elementary School’s sixth grade, who tallied a 96.041 percent. Franklin Elementary School had the best attendance for a school with 94.633 percent.
Across the county, second grade performed best with a 94.292 percent. The county as a whole had a 92.868 percentage for the year.
Through the year, a lot of focus went toward improving the numbers among those with chronic absences. In the future, Pendleton County Schools will also have a “more intense focus on regular attendance,” or those who miss nine days or less.
Charles Hedrick, Pendleton County Superintendent of Schools, told the Board that “we’ve got all of our state testing completed” and added that the results will be available in June. He explained that benchmark indicators taken during the year indicate that the system should see improvement over previous years.
The first day back for staff will be Aug. 12 and students will return to class on Aug. 16.
