Tim Walker
AMR Reporter
The special meeting of the Pocahontas County Board of Education scheduled for Thursday, February 13, was cancelled.
According to both Pocahontas County School Superintendent Lynne Bostic and BOE President Emery Grimes, the meeting was cancelled at the request of the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE).
The purpose of the meeting was to disclose the results of the state’s investigation of the student transcript problems at Pocahontas County High School. This matter will now be discussed at the February 18 BOE meeting.
Bostic and Grimes said they have been told by the WVDE to not discuss those investigative results until that February 18 meeting.
However, WV Metro News Reporter Morgan Pemberton reported that Pocahontas County Schools has been placed under a state of emergency by the WVDE after their investigation found serious issues at PCHS.
Pemberton’s article said that on Wednesday, February 12, Alexandria Criner, Director of the WVDE’s Office of Accountability, presented the results of their investigation to the state Board of Education, which, in addition to other troubling issues, found significant problems with PCHS’s master schedule, grade transcription processes and counseling program. They visited the school in October of 2024 and found additional problems involving the school’s “leadership, positive and safe school environment and special education.”
The article also said that some of these problems are already being worked on because to delay fixing them would negatively impact students.
After Criner presented the findings to the WV Board of Education, that board went into an executive session to discuss what to do about these issues. Following that session Deputy State Superintendent Michele Blatt recommended giving the Pocahontas County Schools six months to correct the problems uncovered at the school, and offered WVDE’s support to assist them. The WVDE’s Office of Special Education will monitor the progress to ensure the school’s special ed programs come into compliance with state and federal regulations.
Blatt said they will expect a report on the progress being made in correcting the problems at PCHS by August 2025. Based on that report, they will consider extending the state of emergency or even making immediate state intervention into the operation of the Pocahontas County School System.
Allegheny Mountain Radio thanks WV Metro News for the information contained in this article.