In July, the West Virginia Department of Education announced that it would undertake a partial intervention of Harrison County Schools. Concerns included the employment of 239 personnel over the school aid formula’s ability to pay for those positions, undue influence of board of education members over central office and school administration matters.
Paul Hardesty, West Virginia Board of Education president, at the time stated, “Nobody wants to RIF their friends, but . . . you have a fiduciary responsibility to manage the taxpayer’s funds in an appropriate manner.” He concluded with “Harrison County, you better get your house in order.”
“Almost 20 percent of the counties in this state” fell into significant trouble over budgeting and personnel related issues, noted Hardesty.
Michelle Blatt, state superintendent, first turned to Sheena Van Meter, Hardy County superintendent, to replace Dora Stutler, retiring Harrison County Schools superintendent.
Van Meter’s educational background started in working with troubled youth, often combined with developmental disabilities, at the Burlington United Methodist Church Children’s Home in Mineral County. She also taught in Grant County before being hired as assistant principal of Moorefield Elementary School.
In 2017 in rapid succession, she was named assistant superintendent, then superintendent. During her tenure, she led Hardy County Schools through the pandemic era issues. She also has worked to contend with chronic and unique problems in that system, including a large population of foreign-born and non-English-speaking students.
She shared that “Everything in the school system should be about what’s best for the kids” and that, if necessary, she will be “making the hard decisions nobody likes to make.”
Nicole Hevener, superintendent of Pendleton County Schools, praised Van Meter for quickly emerging as an effective leader in Hardy County Schools and statewide.
Last week, Blatt announced that she would be hiring Charles Hedrick as a consultant to work with Van Meter in rectifying the problems in Harrison County Schools. He served the Pendleton County School system for four decades, including principal at Circleville School, Franklin High School and Pendleton County Middle/High School, and later superintendent for nine years.
Both Hedrick and Van Meter steered their systems through the COVID pandemic and avoided problems that afflicted systems such as Randolph and Upshur. Pendleton and Hardy both embraced a fiscally conservative (non politically speaking) approach that made meeting the state’s budgetary expectations every year.
As Van Meter stated, the “decisions nobody likes to make” kept their systems running well financially. Importantly, neither Hardy nor Pendleton used one-time American Rescue Plan Act funds to pay for personnel salaries or other ongoing costs.
Other systems, such as Hancock County, found themselves in trouble when ARPA funds ran out and positions created by those funds could not be sustained once that ended.
J. P. Mowery, chief financial officer and treasurer of Pendleton County Schools, said, “It’s hard to find a better person who understands from the bottom up public school issues.” He added that Hedrick “doesn’t rush through things” but “is not afraid to act when the time comes to act.”
Hevener noted that the pair should work well together in helping Harrison County Schools find success. She described them as “student centered, community centered, and public school centered” and said “they give students every opportunity for growth.”
Both Hedrick and Van Meter also have served in leadership roles with the West Virginia Association of School Administrators and regularly consult with members of the West Virginia Legislature on education and school operations issues.
Neither, however, is the first from the Potomac Highlands in 2026 tapped to help a school system identified by the state as troubled. Derek Lambert, former principal of Pendleton County Middle/High School, took the superintendent’s position with Randolph County Schools in late spring after budgetary and other issues were identified there.
