By Stephen Smoot
Last week, the Pendleton County Board of Education took the 15-minute trip to Brandywine to meet the Local School Improvement Council for Brandywine Elementary School.
Attendees enjoyed a potato bar with all the fixings, dinner salads, and a variety of homemade desserts before gathering in the library for the presentation.
Ryan Lambert, principal of BES, greeted the board, superintendent, and other officials with “Welcome! It’s a luxury . . . to be able to host, to get together . . . and have fellowship.”
He then shared praise, expressing that “we are very lucky to have the support of a ‘if we need anything, we get it’ board.’” Lambert stated that both the board and central office staff were “vital to our success.”
Then the principal expressed appreciation that almost the full cadre of school faculty and staff had come to the meeting.
Kelly Marsh then came forward after Lambert gave her the famous description of former New York Yankee star Reggie Jackson as “the straw that stirs the drink.” She gave a report from a parent survey concerning the school.
Just under 80 percent responded; their answers collectively resulted in an average of four and a half out of five on satisfaction ratings “in every category,” shared Marsh. Two questions requested elaboration and returned 70 comments on the school’s positive impact and only two negative responses.
“There were lots of comments that their kids love to read,” Marsh noted and from the negative side “nothing I’d find concerning.”
Aliyah Wright, the Communities in Schools coordinator, stated that BES started an attendance promotion event borrowed from the high school. They styled it “Attendance Spirit Week.” The school did well overall with multiple classes posting 100 percent attendance as the week progressed.
She then went over some events held in the previous school year, starting with the school’s first Gingerbread Bash. Wright scouted stores off of Interstate 81 from Harrisonburg, Virginia, to Martinsburg to get a sufficient number of gingerbread houses for attendees to assemble and decorate.
BES also held a book bingo where no child walked away without a new book to enjoy.
“I want to give a huge thank you to Edna Mullenax,” Wright stated, thanking the Family Support Center for food donations. She then said that almost every business in Franklin donated money.”
Joey Eason, BES teacher, then laid out the innovative and effective ways in which BES has promoted not simply literacy, but a love of reading that translates into “reading to learn.” This serves as an extension of the school’s vision to incorporate instruction of reading, mathematics, and writing into every school day, even half days.
Students also do daily paragraph writing to establish a skill set, then build upon it for mastery. Eason noted that students write at least 170 paragraphs during the school year.
J. D. Wilkins, board president, responded that “it feels like you are having very much success restoring pre-COVID school culture. Lambert stated that he and his staff have taken the attitude that “it’s been long enough” and “it’s no longer an issue.”
The board then opened its regular meeting with the customary invocation from Wilkins, praying, “Almighty God, we thank You for the people here.”
J.P. Mowery, treasurer, opened his report by sharing that the county school system “almost made the $4 million cash mark” as property tax receipts naturally spiked toward the payment deadline at the end of September.
He added that “we’re about $200,000 ahead of last year. It’s a good sign.” Interest rates dropped to 4.29 percent on the accounts, but the school system earned about $10,000 last month and approximately $30,000 since the opening of the fiscal year.
“We’re still solid in that department,” Mowery said.
He reviewed the bills for services, such as virtual school, paving at the bus garage, and also to pay for the Teach for America program that helps non traditional aspirants for teaching positions get certification.
In the financial report, Mowery stated that premiums for liability insurance would increase. This will not happen because Pendleton County had seen lawsuits, but other systems in the same “pool” had.
Nicole Hevener, superintendent, gave the facilities report the highlight of which was the soon-to-be-completed music room repairs at North Fork Elementary.
