By Ammie Ruddle
It was all business at the Pendleton County Board of Education meeting held on Oct. 18 in the annex building in Franklin.
Sonny O’Neil, vice president, led the meeting in the absence of J.D. Wilkins, president.
A $500,000 grant award has been presented to the county schools by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, COPS. This award will be used for security upgrades. Pendleton County was one of four counties in the state to receive this award and was one of two counties to receive the full amount of the award.
- P. Mowery, director of finance and BOE treasurer, spent some time in the news recently. He was featured in the Charleston Gazette discussing the impact the Hope Scholarship could have on federally funded schools. Mowery stated in the article that county school systems are possibly headed for a “reckoning so to speak.” He went on to ask, “So what role does the state have in providing a thorough and efficient education?”
He was also seen on a televised news segment on WHSV TV3 discussing the $2.3 million grant awarded to the county for broadband expansion. In the segment Mowery said, “During the pandemic, we realized that we had to go online to provide options for students and broadband is not a strong suit of this county.” He added, “Certain areas have high speed but it’s a very slow bandwidth and students cannot always sign on to access some of the programs and curriculum.”
Travis Heavner, director of curriculum and facilities, updated board members on the progress of the Lovegrove building. Heavner said that doors and drywall arrived at the building this week. He went on to say he “hopes to be moved in by January 2023.”
Following Heavner’s update, the board members went into executive session to discuss advanced construction. However, no action was taken during the executive session.
Charles Hedrick, superintendent, shared with board members the 2020-2021 Audit Review Letter, and proudly announced that there were no findings during the audit.
After a month with zero resignations, two were submitted for approval to the BOE. Debra Glover resigned as a K-2 instructional coach, and Matthew Barcus resigned as the social studies teacher for Pendleton County Middle/High School.
However, there were two new hires to the Pendleton County Schools staff: Ann Myers- itinerant instructional coach/ substitute teacher and Dianna Redman- long-term substitute bus driver (bus route #5317).
Board members approved a total of eight volunteers and nine chaperones for Pendleton County elementary schools.
The next PCBOE meeting will be held at 6:00 p.m. on Nov. 1 at PCMHS.
