By Stephen Smoot
The first meeting of the Pendleton County Board of Education was one of the briefest of the year, but consequential moves still took place.
After reciting the Pledge, the board members and others present heard their president, J. D. Wilkins, give the customary invocation. He prayed, “We thank You for the day and thank You for the school year that we had.”
First, the board considered a short slate of retirements and resignations. They then went to approve the posting of the positions of administrative mentor and extracurricular transitional trainer.
Wilma Pitsenbarger, board member, requested more information on both positions and received the explanation that both provide supplemental training and support for new personnel.
New hires included Kristy Tritapo as assistant principal at Pendleton County Middle/High School, Jonathan Eye as the middle school head girls’ basketball coach with Bethany Whetzel serving as assistant.
The board also approved recommended changes in supplemental pay. This included $800 for certain middle school coaching positions, $2,000 for high school cheer head coach and $1,000 for the assistant coach of that squad.
Certain other positions that worked more than 200 days also received supplemental pay changes.
J. P. Mowery then stepped in to give the treasury and finance reports. The former report showed that it was, as Mowery explained, “another good month for the month of May cash flow wise.” He reported a month ending balance of $3.178 million after one of the last batches of tax receipts came in.
June, however, will see an expected “significant reduction” as payroll checks go out.
The interest report also showed good results. With a 4.39 percent interest rate, the balance in the bank earned approximately $86,000 for the month and $112,000 for the year to date. “That, again, is very good,” stated Mowery, who shared that the budget only anticipated $75,000 in interest.
Mowery then brought up option for workman’s compensation insurance for the year 2025 to 2026. After reviewing different options, he recommended Travelers “who we’ve had for years” for that service.
Travelers proved the most attractive option and was approved. They offered $22,335 as the year’s premium, reduced $1,200 from the previous year. “That’s pretty rare. It’s rare for anything to be decreasing in this day and age,” shared Mowery.
The reduction came because of the flawless record of Pendleton County Schools in having no workman’s compensation claims for the past five years. “As boards of education go, that’s about as low as you can go,” Mowery stated.
Sonny O’Neil, board member, questioned Travelers estimate of total expected claims of $59,000 from the school system, saying that “for no claims in five years, that seems high.” Mowery explained that the insurance company takes into account the possibility of a claim with “extreme” costs, such as hospitalization, when coming up with that number. He also stated that he had asked the same question of experts around the state.
Board members then took up a request from the Christian Assistance Network to renew their lease of the Kline Building for their food pantry operation. Charles Hedrick, superintendent, informed the board that “it’s the same terms we’ve had,” that include a nominal lease of $10 for the year.
It was approved.
The final act of the meeting was Nicole Hevener taking the oath of office to assume the position of Pendleton County Schools superintendent on July 1.
