Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
At the August 19 Pocahontas County Board of Education meeting, superintendent Dr. Leatha Williams reported information to the board concerning test scores for math and English/language arts for the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school years.
Williams explained that, while the overall performance has improved in both subjects, there are some grade levels that have room for improvement the coming year.
“I want to say that it is unbelievable the number of students that Pocahontas County Schools has in the green level [proficient and above],” she said. “There are some exceptional things going on in our schools for our brightest students.”
Going by grade level, Williams shared the following percentages of students proficient in math and English/language arts – third grade, 57 and 51; fourth grade 61 and 55; fifth grade, 43 and 50; sixth grade, 30 and 43; seventh grade, 39 and 44; eighth grade, 50 and 60; and 11th grade, 29 and 41.
Eleventh grade is the only high school level that goes through standardized testing.
Williams said while the percentages were for the most part good, she is concerned about the decline in math proficiency in the higher grades.
“Is that a curricular issue; is that an attendance issue with the students; is that an instructional issue,” she said. “We know that we have some issues that we have to work on. We have to look and calibrate where we see sudden drops in our scores and where we see growth because there’s some great things we can capitalize on and there’s some areas we can improve on.”
Williams also broke down the scores by school, showing that math scores in the middle school and high school are low.
She also explained that special education students are showing low proficiency in the test scores.
“We know that we have some issues in special education, some things that we have to work on,” she said. “Our ELA performance across the board – we are seeing a gap between the students that are in special ed and our regular ed students and their performance.
“I think the greatest concern that we have in special ed from my viewpoint right now is that in mathematics, we have two grade levels with zero percent kids proficient and that would be fifth grade and seventh grade,” she continued. “So that means county-wide, all students that are in fifth grade and seventh grade in special ed did not reach performance level.
“We have to investigate that a little bit.”
Breaking it down to brass tacks, Williams said the county overall is performing better in English/language arts than in math and that there is a decline in math scores in middle and high school ages. Also, there is an issue with special education students performing under proficiency in both math and English/language arts.
“The potential for growth in proficiency rate is about thirty percent for math and about twenty-eight percent for ELA,” she said. “What that means is we have a percentage of our students that are on the bubble of being proficient that weren’t proficient last year.
“We have to target the students – see what skill deficits they have and adjust our instruction,” she continued. “We learned about multi-tiered systems of support today. Get them where they need to be and we can move our county up that much.”
In special recognitions:
• The board thanked drama teacher Charlie Hughes and the drama club, represented by Nathanael Barkley, for volunteering to paint the stage at Pocahontas County High School. Eighteen students worked hard to make ithe stage look nice for the new school year.
In miscellaneous management, the board approved:
• Presenters for opening professional development.
• Placing the following policies on comment: Policy 5136 – Personal Electronic Devices and Policy 7540.04 – Staff Technology Acceptable Use and Safety.
• Following WV Code 18A-2-7b Stay Put Rule.
• MOU between Pocahontas County Schools and Southern Educational Services Cooperative for the West Virginia Mountain State Academy and Proximity Learning.
• Parent drop off and pick-up procedure.
In personnel management, the board approved:
• Employment of Jeanette Wagner as assistant principal at Pocahontas County High School.
• Employment of the following as substitute teachers for Pocahontas County Schools, at state basic professional salary, based on degree and experience, for the 2025-2026 school year, as needed: Lucas P. Adcock, Susan M. Arbogast, Shannon G. Arbogast, M. Erin Baldwin, Teresa L. Barb, Tara L. Bauserman, Kenneth E. Beezley, P. Erwin Berry, IV, Kay E. Blackshire, Ross D. Boggs, Thomas W. Boothe, Dawn G. Brewster, Brianna D. Butcher-Sharp, Kelly A. Buzzard, Logan A. Davis, Lisa M. Dennison, Thomas K. Denison, Staci Jo Keffer Dunn, Earl D. Friel, Maria L. Hall, Gregory W. Hamons, Elizabeth R. Hefner, David T. Holcomb, Deborah A. Irvine, Kathy M. Irvine, Susan K. Streisel-Jenkins, Allen R. Johnson, Cheryl R. Jonese, Jan R. Jonese, Bridget C. Koerber, Katherine A. LaFleur, Emily K. McLaughlin, Jay V. Miller, Peter A. Monico, Gregory D. Morgan, Karen R. Murphy, Diana L. Nelson, Alyssa L. Nottingham, Peggy M. Owens, Jonathan B. Perkins, Patricia L. Plaugher, Ronald A. Plau-gher, Sherry L. Radcliff, Susan L. Ray, Teresa E. Rhea, Jeanette L. Rittenhouse, Lucy M. Rittenhouse, Shannon L. Rittenhouse, Nicole L. Sattler, Dorthie I. Shamblin, Drema L. Sharp, Virginia L. Shaw, Elaine J. Sheets, Robert A. Sheets, Sharla G. Sherman, Stephen T. Simmons, Maxine A. Solliday, Christina M. Smith, Jessica N. Taylor, June A. Taylor, Tresten R. Taylor, Tracey L. Valach, Karen A. Vandevender, Alesia M. Wayne, Michelle D. Wilfong, Christina O. Yough and Roseanne T. Zeni. Emergency Use Only: Shannon Barkley-Bircher and Sara E. Hamilton.
• Employment of the following as substitute professionals for Pocahontas County Schools, at state basic professional salary, based on degree and experience for the 2025-2026 school year as needed: Ruth Bland – administrator, speech/language pathologist and technology integration specialist.
• Employment of the following coaches for Pocahontas County Schools, effective for the 2025-2026 season, at the supplement indicated. All positions are contingent upon proper certification and/or licensure and sufficient number of players to make a team.
– Fred Koerber, athletic director $6,000
– Doug Burns, head football coach, $4,000
– Matt Buzzard, assistant football coach, $1,100
– Seth Doss, assistant football coach, $1,100
– Fred Koerber, assistant football coach, $1,100
– Nevin Lucabaugh, $1 football coach, $1
– Aaron Pugh, $1 football coach, $1
– Bridget Koerber, head cheer coach, $1,800
– Kyle Graae, seventh and eighth grade football, $1,700
– Shannon Arbogast, head girls soccer coach, $3,200
– Justin Dilley, head boys soccer coach, $3,200
– Tim McClung, head girls basketball coach, $4,000
– John Snyder, assistant girls basketball coach, $1,100
– Natasha Trainer, head softball coach, $4,000
– Karen O’Neil, head girls and boys track coach, $2,000
– Aaron Pugh, assistant girls and boys track coach, $1,000
– Peter Monico, head golf coach, $500
– E. Douglas Friel, assistant golf coach, $300
– Melissa Jordan and Chloe Schaffner, co-GBEMS athletic directors, $600 per person
– Nebraska Scotchie, MMS athletic director, $1,200
– Corey McNabb, MMS head girls basketball, $1,700
– Jessica McNabb, MMS assistant girls basketball, $1
– Greg Hamons, MMS assistant girls basketball, $1
– Brian Tankersley, MMS head boys basketball, $1,700
– Chris Sutton, GBEMS head boys basketball, $1,700
– Todd Jones, GBEMS girls basketball, $1,700
