By Stephen Smoot
On July 1, the new session of the Pendleton County Board of Education commenced. The meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance and also an invocation from J. D. Wilkins.
The first priority lay in swearing in both the re-elected and the new school board members. Lisa Jamison in her capacity as a notary public administered the oath of office to Sonny O’Neil, Betty Kimble, and Wilma Pitsenbarger. Board members then approved reappointing Wilkins as president and O’Neil as vice president.
Next, the board had to select its representatives to other bodies. O’Neil was appointed to the Eastern Panhandle Instructional Cooperative board of directors, Katie Hott to the 4-H club committee, Wilkins to the South Branch Vo-Tech board of directors, and Kimble to the Pendleton County Foundation.
Others agreed to remain at their current appointments.
After finishing appointments, Charles Hedrick, superintendent of schools, recognized Sam Eason. Along with Chloe Kisamore, Madisen Brooks, and Kiera Heavener, Eason attended one of the prestigious Governor’s schools. Eason, however, earned the Best Camper award for his performance during his time at the School of Literacy Through Arts, Culture, and History.
Hedrick also praised Carrie Nesselrodt and Pendleton County Schools’ special education staff for meeting West Virginia Department of Education requirements in implementing IDEA.
At this point, the board went over resignations and potential hires. This included Travis Heavner’s employment as assistant girls’ varsity basketball coach and Nancy Enyart, who recently retired with more than four decades of experience, as a substitute secretary.
Other hires included Dave Eason as assistant middle school girls’ basketball coach, Chad Propst as middle school assistant boys’ basketball coach, and Natasha Bowers as assistant middle school volleyball coach
After the treasurer’s report and financial update from J. P. Mowery, Heavner provided a facilities update. First, he reported that after a close examination of Franklin Elementary School’s settling foundation only minor repairs would be needed there. Small repairs also helped to repair malfunctioning classroom doors at the same school.
Crews also completed summer cleaning at Pendleton County Middle/High School and have moved on to Franklin Elementary, then will move on to the other two schools in the county. Work also started on dividing a large classroom at North Fork Elementary into two rooms with a wall.
Heavner also shared good news concerning the alternate education building. In a meeting earlier this summer, he projected that delays might prevent its installation before the end of the calendar year. He now informed the board that the move of the last half of the structure from Huttonsville prison could happen soon and the alternate education building could be ready for students before school starts.
