Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
Pocahontas County Board of Education heard an update January 12 from English/language arts coach Stephanie Burns on the progress of the newly added Third Grade Success Act.
The Act is a multi-tiered system that focuses on English/language arts and math skills. While it is called the Third Grade Success Act, it actually begins in the first grade, Burns explained.
“It includes screening and benchmarks for grades first through third grade in a three-year phase,” she said.
The Act has a list of cut scores and Burns said if the students do not reach the cut scores by the time they are expected to, the student will meet with a student assistant team to work on the deficiencies and make sure they are meeting the standards and learning the curriculum.
Burns and the implementation team – Rebecca Spencer, Kristy Tankersley, Katherine LeFleur, Diane Delfino, Gina Hardesty, Marsha Beverage and Michelle Murphy Rose –have attended training for the program and will provide training to their respective schools.
Although it is too soon to definitively say if the act is a success, Burns said there is a noticeable difference in the first grade classrooms.
“I’ll tell you what we’re seeing,” she said. “We have more consistently, systematically provided intervention. Intervention was always provided in classrooms, but not quite as the level that’s being providing now.
“We are seeing an increase in growth already,” she continued. “Our hook is for our students to reach fifty percent mastery by mid-year. We have seen an increase this year compared to previous years. We are seeing improvement, but I don’t want to hold my breath. I think there are other pieces we still need to work on.”
Burns also shared information about the success of this year’s Literature Fair.
The fair is for kindergarten through 12th grade and is similar to a Social Studies Fair, except the students select a book as the subject of their project and discuss the plot and characters.
Burns said the top 85 projects from the elementary and middle schools participated in the county fair. From there, 21 of the projects moved on to the regional fair which was held at Glenville State University. At the regional fair, 18 projects placed first and three were selected as Best in Show.
The Best in Show projects will be presented at the West Virginia Reading Conference at The Greenbrier.
In financial management, the board approved:
• Payment of vendor listing, payment of local government purchasing card, employee payroll, extra duty pay for the month of December 2023, grant awards and budget adjustments.
In miscellaneous management, the board approved:
• Travel reimbursement rate to change from 65.5 cents per mile to 67 cents per mile, retroactive to January 1, 2024.
• Agreement between Neola and the Pocahontas County Board of Education to provide Neola Select Services.
• Neola policy 2266 “Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities.”
• Memorandum of Understanding between Pocahontas County Board of Education and the Regional Math Field Day.
• Dual Credit Pilot Memorandum of Understanding between Marshall University and Pocahontas County Board of Education.
• Parent and community volunteers.
In personnel management, the board approved:
• Employment of Devan Gum as extended day teacher at Green Bank Elementary-Middle School, at $25 per hour, not to exceed $1,900, effective for the remainder of the 2023-2024 school year or until funds are exhausted.
• Employment of Tina Tracy and Vada Boback as extended day teachers at Hillsboro Elementary School, at $25 per hour, not to exceed $1,900, effective for the remainder of the 2023-2024 school year or until funds are exhausted. This will be a shared position between the two teachers.
• Employment of Jennifer McCarty as extended day teacher at Marlinton Elementary School, at $25 per hour, not to exceed $1,900, effective for the remainder of the 2023-2024 school year or until funds are exhausted.
• Employment of Rachel McComb, Erin Murphy, Denise Sharp and Jeanette Wagner as extended day teachers at Marlinton Middle School, at $25 per hour, not to exceed $1,900, effective for the remainder of the 2023-2024 school year or until funds are exhausted. This will be a shared position between the four teachers.
• Employment of Melinda Ruth as extended day teacher at Pocahontas County High School, at $25 per hour, not to exceed $1,900, effective for the remainder of the 2023-2024 school year or until funds are exhausted.
• Employment of Stephanie Burns as federal programs coordinator/instructional coach for Pocahontas County Schools, effective January 10, for 118 days for the remainder of the 2023-2024 school year. Term of employment will be 220 days each year thereafter.
• Employment of Jacob Dunbrack as substitute school bus operator for Pocahontas County Schools, at state basic pay, for the remainder of the 2023-2024 school year, as needed.
• Employment of Michelle Murphy Rose as Grow Your Own Apprentice Mentor for Jazzlyn Teter, Pocahontas County Schools current apprentice.
• Request of Lisa Rich to be removed from the secretary/accountant substitute list, effective December 31, 2023.
The next board meeting will be Tuesday, January 30, at Marlinton Elementary School, followed by the regular meeting at 4:15 p.m.
