Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
At the February 22 Pocahontas County Board of Education meeting, the board discussed issues resulting from requiring students to wear masks on the school buses, but not in the schools.
“We have an optional mask mandate right now, but we’re required to mask on the school buses, which doesn’t make too much sense because kids are in the classrooms and the masks are really losing their credibility as to whether they do what they’re supposed to do,” she said. “On top of that, we’re throwing away more masks, and students are not wearing them. It has become a battle and an exercise in futility to try to get the children to comply to wear the masks.”
The school system has equipped school buses with boxes of masks in case students don’t have one of their own, and Bland said the bus drivers are having a hard time convincing students to wear them.
“My drivers have been very good, but they are tired and, now, when you have a kid who says, ‘my mom says I don’t have to wear it, I’m not going to wear it,’ it’s about time that we do something to alleviate the anxiety and the tension that we have between a staff member who is trying to make sure we follow the guidelines and families that don’t agree,” Bland said.
The board voted to discontinue the mandate for masks on school buses, effective February 23.
Board will rebid HVAC projects
Tim Walker
AMR Reporter
Andy Cocina of the Wendell Corporation, which manages the schools’ energy programs, and Ron Hall, Director of Maintenance, brought bad news to the board. The plan had been to allocate $2.5 million of American Rescue Plan funds to install new HVAC systems which would include air-conditioning at Marlinton Middle School and Green Bank Elementary/Middle School, and to apply for a School Building Authority (SBA) Needs Grant for another $7.6 million, which would, among other things, install air-conditioning in the other three schools.
We had earlier reported that the Needs Grant request was totally denied by the SBA last December.
At this meeting, Cocina and Hall announced that while the board still has the $2.5 million from the American Rescue Plan, the only bid they received to install air-conditioning at Marlinton Middle School and Green Bank Elementary-Middle School came in at $5.4 million, twice the amount of money the schools have to spend on the project, and nearly three times as much as they had believed the cost would be. They said that inflation may be part of the reason for this, as well as having received only one bid. They suggested the bidder might have also believed the county schools had more money available for the project than they do. Cocina said he felt a $5.4 million is unreasonably expensive, and suggested they put out another bid proposal and advertise it more. Hall, Cocina and the board members agreed that if that rebid attempt also fails to meet the schools’ budget of $2.5 million, they would be better off either waiting for the economy to improve and inflation to ease since they have until September 2024 to spend the American Rescue Funds, or at least look for a less expensive way to do the job.
The meeting began with a public meeting on the 2022-2023 School Calendar. Teachers will report on August 9, with students starting class on August 15.
There will be the usual seven state holidays; no school Thanksgiving week, a full two weeks off for Christmas/New Year’s, and a week and one day off for spring break, which will be from Friday, April 7, through Friday, April 14. If there is not an excessive number of snow days, the last day for students will be May 26. There will be a second public meeting Tuesday, March 15, at 5:30 p.m.
In updates:
• Superintendent Terrence Beam gave the board a bit of good news by saying there will be no RIFs – Reduction in Force – this school year. There will, however, be transfers, but that all employees who will be subject to a transfer will remain in the school in which they currently work.
Most of the transfers will be due to classroom size. For example – this year, the kindergarten at a school required two classes, but next year, kindergarten will only need one class, so one of the teachers will be transferred to teach first grade.
Beam said he will have the details for the board at the first meeting in April.
In miscellaneous management, the board approved the following:
• For up to six Pocahontas County High School Pro Start students and ProStart Instructor Teresa Mullen to travel by private vehicle to The Greenbrier Resort, February 26-28, to participate in restaurant management and culinary arts seminars. Trip funded by ProStart fundraising.
• Neola policies – po2215 Required Instruction; po2625 Civics Education Test; po2371 Hope Scholarship Program; po9505 Charter Schools; po1406 Determination of Employee or Independent Worker; po3116 Determination of Employee or Independent Worker; and po4116 Determination of Employee or Independent Worker.
In personnel management, the board approved the following:
• Employment of Shannon L. Rittenhouse as academic interventionist at Green Bank Elementary-Middle School, at $22 per hour, three and a half hours per day, up to five days per week, not to exceed $8,612, effective February 24 through May 13. Holidays are not part of this contract.
• Resignation of Thomas W. Boothe, due to retirement, as teacher of health/physical education at Green Bank Elementary-Middle School, effective at the end of the 2021-2022 school year.
• Requested transfer of Abram J. Rittenhouse as teacher of health/physical education at Pocahontas County High School to teacher of health/physical education, half time, at Pocahontas County High School, at state minimum salary, effective for the 2022-2023 school year. Term of employment is 200 half days.
• Requested transfer of Jessica L. McLaughlin as site coordinator of the Community in Schools program at Marlinton Middle School to itinerant teacher of special education – multi-categorical/autism, at Marlinton Middle School, at state minimum salary, effective February 24, for the remainder of the 2021-2022 school year. Term of employment is 69 days, in addition to days already worked. Term of employment shall be 200 days each year thereafter.
• Requested transfer Derek R. Trull as itinerant teacher of art/gifted to itinerate teacher of art at Marlinton Middle School and Green Bank Elementary-Middle School, at state minimum salary, effective for the 2022-2023 school year. Term of employment is 200 days.
• Employment Thomas K. Dennison as restricted substitute teacher (2A) for Pocahontas County Schools, at state basic pay, based on degree and experience, for the remainder of the 2021-2022 school year, as needed.
The next board meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 15, beginning with a calendar hearing at 5:30 p.m., immediately followed by the regular agenda items at the board of education conference room.
