Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
It has been a long and arduous six months for Pocahontas County Schools, but all that hard work paid off last Wednesday, when the West Virginia Board of Education lifted the State of Emergency that was placed on Pocahontas County High School last July.
Superintendent Dr. Leatha Williams gave a presentation to the state board, laying out all the work that was done to correct the issues that led to the state of emergency.
The board was impressed with all the action Pocahontas County Schools has taken to correct the issues and lifted its control over the school system.
“When you’re on a state of emergency or county intervention, it takes three to five years,” Williams said. “So, for us to get our ducks in a row and present our evidence in six months is great.”
Williams said that state board president L. Paul Hardesty said the board was impressed with the presentation and how extensive it was.
“He said to me, ‘we don’t want to be in any county,’” she said. “He said, ‘you have the keys to the county – go back and do great things.’ They said it was a great presentation that laid out what we had done and how we did it –very succinctly and provided the evidence to show it.
“I’m excited for us.”
To get through the state of emergency, the county hired Deirdre Cline as a consultant, who worked closely with the central office and PCHS to remedy the issues at hand.
“We could not have done it without her,” Williams said. “The work that Deirdre did at the high school was comprehensive and extensive.”
Both the state of emergency and the special education program intervention have been lifted and now the school system is ready to get back to normal and continue working on the issues brought forth by the state.
While the state is out of the equation now, there are still some corrections that need to be made.
Williams said she is still seeking highly qualified teachers to fill positions, as well as working on the counseling services at two of the county schools. The counseling positions at PCHS and Green Bank Elementary-Middle School were abolished, but that school will not go without services.
Williams plans to post a position for a graduation coach at PCHS and try again to find a counselor for GBEMS.
Several positions, including those two, have been posted for a long time without qualified applicants, so Williams decided to abolish those positions for the time being and look at the schools’ needs before reposting.
In the meantime, those positions are filled by substitute teachers.
“They were posted and we do have a lot of subs, and I do value our long-term subs,” she said. “I am very grateful for our long-term subs. I’m not saying anything unkind about long-term subs, but most of them are not highly qualified. They don’t have mastery of their content area, and it is reflected in our student performance.”
Williams also looked at the administration positions at PCHS and realigned the assistant principal job to be a special education supervisor to ensure the special education program remains in compliance.
“Jeanette Wagner is up there,” she said. “She’s doing a phenomenal job in it and her sole priority is special education, co-teaching, specially designed instruction, IEP supervision and getting things done on time.”
Safety was another issue in the state of emergency, and one that is a big concern for Williams. Now there is a school safety officer – Herby Barlow – at PCHS and that helps with some of that concern.
“He’s doing a fabulous job,” Williams said. “It took me a little while to find someone. I still have another [officer position] posted. I haven’t found anyone for that position, yet.”
On Presidents Day, the schools were closed to students, but all staff was at PCHS for “I Love You Guys” training. The program has safety protocols and drills for schools to learn in case of emergencies.
“If you have an exterior intruder, an interior intruder, a student that has a medical emergency, or a teacher who has a medical emergency,” Williams said. “It lays out all those different scenarios, so you succinctly know how to deal with those.”
Substitute principal Ruth Bland is also working on safety concerns, specifically with the security camera and door lock companies to make the school as safe as possible.
One of Williams’ pet projects is finally underway now that she can fully focus on it. She is working with New River Community and Technical College to offer four new college programs at the high school.
“Hopefully, I’m going to have some students that are going to graduate with their associate’s degree,” she said.
Those four programs will be LPN, lab technician, corrections and criminal justice.
“Since I have abolished positions that were unfilled for so long, it gives me some flexibility in how I hire them back to be able to bring these programs to our students,” Williams said. “Ultimately what we want is to fill the jobs that are in our community.”
Williams met with officials at Pocahontas Memorial Hospital, Pocahontas County Sheriff Troy McCoy and has reached out to Denmar Correctional Center to get them involved in the process of creating these programs.
On February 27, PCHS will have a program fair with New River and representatives from PMH, the sheriff’s office and Denmar on hand to talk to the students.
“We are going to be looking at rotations because I don’t think the kids have had a lot of exposure [to these fields],” Williams said. “All of these are either a year credential that you get certified to do immediately out of high school or an associate’s degree program.”
Williams also has a plan for a CTE fair where students will learn more about the career and technical programs offered at PCHS. New River will also attend this fair to meet with students and their parents to help them map out their career path that they can start on with courses in high school.
“We’ve got some big things planned for them,” she said. “It’s an exciting time for us. I feel really good about where we’re going.”
