Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
Green Bank Elementary-Middle School Principal Missy Jordan gave an update on the school’s improvement in academics and attendance at the February 17 Pocahontas County Board of Education meeting.
Like a lot of schools, GBEMS was struggling with test scores and attendance numbers, but Jordan showed in her presentation that the school has been on an uptick the past couple years with improvement in both areas.
“This is something we’re really proud of,” she said. “In the 2023-2024 school year, we were 347 out of 368 elementary schools [in the state]. Last year we increased 102 ranks to 245, so we’re very, very, very proud of that. Our middle school in the 2023-2024 school year – we were 159 out of 169. Last year, we increased 27 ranks up to 132.”
Jordan referred to the school’s strategic plan and said the goal was to continue to increase English/language arts and math test scores.
Using a slide, she showed the benchmarks for third through eighth grade students for the 2025-2026 school year. For the first benchmark test, 13 percent of the students met or exceeded proficiency. In the second benchmark which was later in the school year, that increased to 22 percent.
“Just to give you a little bit of background on that, that is a comprehensive test for the whole school year,” Jordan explained. So, what you would expect is the lower score to be at the beginning of the year and then continuously increase and hopefully be ready for the West Virginia Summit of Growth assessment.”
Jordan broke down the scores and said there was a 10 percent increase from the first to the second benchmark.
“We are heading in the right direction,” she said.
To make those improvements, Jordan said the school has implemented several initiatives to help students, including reading and math intervention.
There is also focused intervention for “bubble students” – students who are right on the cusp of getting a meet or exceed scores on the test and need a little extra boost to get over that hump.
“We shared these scores with the students and the teachers,” Jordan said. “I have met individually with everybody and we have set goals. [The students] set their own personal goals, so they’re monitoring those. They have a chart that they’re documenting it on, so they have some accountability and some buy-in into that.”
There is also the 21st Century Grant after-school program and Jordan said an average of 23 students take part in the program.
In addition to academic intervention, GBEMS is working on attendance issues and has seen improvement in the number of students with chronic absences.
On October 30, the attendance rate was 92.5 percent, with chronic absenteeism at 25.49 percent.
“We currently have a year-to-date attendance of 93 percent, but our chronically absent rate has dropped to 17.33 percent, Jordan said. “I can tell you that that is very conscious. That has been a lot of effort. I owe a lot of credit to a lot of people. I am so thankful I have a Communities in Schools person because this is also her goal. She helps a lot.”
The school has focused on making attending school fun and giving incentives such as tickets to a football game or gift certificates to local eateries.
There’s also a morning dance break that has become rather popular.
“If you’ve ever been at Green Bank at ten in the morning, you hear me or Mrs. [Marsha] Grimes on the announcements, having everybody stand up and dance because at ten we dance if we have ninety-five percent or higher attendance for that day,” Jordan said.
Jordan also spoke about discipline referrals and said those have decreased since last year.
The report is a reason to celebrate for GBEMS which was put on an improvement path by the West Virginia Department of Education in 2023.
“My first year as principal, we had a lot of changes and a lot of things we had to grow,” Jordan said. “Then last year, we tweaked those and improved those, and we saw the results we were hoping to see.”
In updates:
• Superintendent Dr. Leatha Williams gave a report on the countywide Benchmark 2 scores. Williams explained that the first benchmark was done within the first 30 days of school and the second benchmark was recent.
The benchmark shows if the students meet the grade level standards for math and reading.
On the first benchmark, the county had 107 out of 368 students who were two or more grade levels below in reading. On the second benchmark, 87 out of 370 were two or more grade levels below.
This shows that between the two tests, 24 students increased their reading skills.
Williams said the math score showed the same improvement. Between the two tests, 21 students increased their math skills.
GBEMS has two in reading and seven in math improving. Hillsboro Elementary School had three in reading and four in math. Marlinton Elementary School was even in reading, but one improved in math.
“I think this is a huge celebration for our school system,” Williams said. “Improvements at every grade level. Just a couple pockets that we need to focus in on for our interventions, but overall, I would say this is a success.”
Williams, with director of maintenance Duance Gibson, also gave a report on the recent improvement projects at the facilities, including the board office, Pocahontas County High School, HES and MES.
The board office had improvements made to give directors more privacy for confidentiality purposes; PCHS had renovations done to the bathrooms, office and gym; HES got a new boiler and MES got new hot water heaters.
Williams added that the West Virginia School Building Authority grant application process is now open for Major Improvement Projects. This year, the school system will apply to replace the roof at Marlinton Middle School.
In closing, Williams gave a report on the WVDE decision to remove the state of emergency for Pocahontas County Schools. She thanked all those involved in helping the school system make improvements in the past six months and said she is looking forward to the future.
The board thanked Williams for all the effort she put into addressing the state of emergency and agreed that it is time to focus on the future.
In special recognitions:
• Coordinator of technology Kristi Hamons recognized the regional science fair winners. Pocahontas County students competed against students from Braxton, Fayette, Greenbrier and Webster counties.
The students who placed first will go on to compete at the state science fair in March in Charleston.
First place winners were: Noah Sharp and Ethan Jones, “Which Actions Performs Best?,” division 2, engineering; Jenifer Taylor, “Fruit vs. Fabric,” division 2, material science; and Brayden Ray, “Radio Reflections,” division 2, physics and astronomy.
Second place winners were: Fenna Marks, “Musical Scales,” division 1, animal science; Annabel Swan, “How Does a Lightbulb Potato Work?,” division 1, engineering; Lane Wilfong, “Antibiotic effects on Common Kitchen Spices,” division 2, chemistry; and Madalyn Rittenhouse, Noah Arbogast and Lucas Sutton, “Speed Melting,” division 2, earth and environmental sciences.
Third place winners were: Jonah Mann and Sadie Brown, “What Soap Makes the Biggest Bubble?,” division 1, chemistry.
In delegations:
• Parent Bev Gragg addressed the board with a petition to have Sam Gibson removed as a board member. The petition was in response to posts Gibson made on social media platforms which caused community members and parents to express concern about Gibson being a representative on the board.
The board was not allowed to comment due to Gragg being a delegation, but superintendent Williams did make a statement, explaining that she and the board have no authority to remove Gibson. Williams said she understands the public’s concerns and thanked Gragg for bringing them to the attention of the board.
In financial management, the board approved payment of bills, vendor listings, the P-card, employee payroll, grant awards and budget adjustments, transfers and supplements.
In personnel management, the board approved the following:
• Employment of Angela Vandevender as secretary II/accountant II at Pocahontas County High School, effective for the 2026-2027 school year, pending successful background check.
The next board meeting will be Tuesday, March 3, at 6 p.m., in the board of education conference room in Buckeye.
