Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
At the December 17 Pocahontas County Board of Education meeting, superintendent Lynne Bostic recognized 2024-2025 Teacher of the Year Erin Murphy as well as the winners of the county spelling bee.
Murphy, who is an English/language arts teacher at Marlinton Middle School, was announced as the county Teacher of the Year back in May at the Super Scholars event.
“She is definitely a lifelong learner, and she instills that into her students,” Bostic said. “When I walk into her classroom, the students are engaged, they’re excited, she’s doing unique strategies, and they all know what to do and when to do it.”
Murphy explained one of her favorite lessons is for the students to take on the role of teaching.
“Toward the end of the year, I take something that I’ve already taught, and I assign them that standard and they have to teach it to their class,” she said. “They have to make a PowerPoint. They have to do guided notes for it. They have to make a test. They have to make an answer key. They have to come up with an interactive quiz to do with their peers. They have to grade the quiz.”
The lesson flips the classroom dynamic, and Murphy said she has seen improvement in state assessment scores since she started implementing this lesson.
“When I looked at the state assessment, I could identify the standards that I used for that,” she said. “My kids scored the best on it. Not only are they teaching their peers, but their peers are also being taught by somebody that maybe can explain it better than I can because they’re on the same level.”
The board thanked Murphy for her continued efforts in the classroom and congratulated her for being selected as Teacher of the Year.
Bostic also announced the county spelling bee winners – third place, Bailey Goodwin; second place, Silas Dean; and first place, Brayden Ray. She said Ray will move on to compete in the regional spelling bee and will represent Pocahontas County well.
In other business, Bostic reported that she received word from the West Virginia School Building Authority that, regretfully, stated Pocahontas County Schools did not get funded for its Major Improvements Project grant application.
She said they will continue to seek funding and apply for the smaller, but still effective Needs Project which funds up to $1 million for projects.
Regarding Pocahontas County High School, Bostic said the West Virginia Department of Education and the West Virginia Education Information System department have provided training for administrators to work on transcripts.
In other matters:
• Director Kristy Tritapoe gave an update on preschool, special education and federal programs. She provided information on the preschool enrollment updates and said the applications will be ready on January 3.
Tritapoe said she received several donations to give to preschool applicants including backpacks, water bottles, binoculars, an activity book designed by IT professional Krisi Hamons, and crayons.
She added that the special education program is reviewing IEPs to make sure everything is in order and the school system is compliant according to state requirements.
Lastly, Tritapoe said she has requested technical assistance from the state education department regarding federal programs. That department will provide special training assistance to Tritapoe and Stephanie Burns.
In financial management, the board approved payment of vendor listing, payment of local government purchasing card, employee payroll, extra duty pay, grant awards, summary of schedule of revenues and expenditures on a cash basis and budget adjustments.
In miscellaneous management, the board approved the following:
• Resolution urging West Virginia to stabilize the Public Employees Insurance Agency (PEIA).
In personnel management, the board approved the following:
• Resignation of Kaylea Kelley as fifth grade teacher at Green Bank Elementary-Middle School, effective April 10, 2025.
• Employment of Phillip Propst as volunteer basketball coach for boys at Green Bank Elementary-Middle School for the 2024-2025 school year.
• Employment of Carrie Curry as special education/classroom/bus aid for Hillsboro Elementary School for the remainder of the 2024-2025 school year, for a term of 110 days. Term of employment shall be 200 days each year thereafter.
• Resignation of Tresten Taylor as CTE teacher of business at Pocahontas County High School, effective January 5, 2025.
The next board meeting will be Tuesday, January 7, 2025, at 6 p.m. at the board of education conference room, 404 Old Buckeye Road.
