BOE Gets Clarification on State of Emergency

Allegheny Mountain Radio thanks the Pocahontas Times and their Staff Reporter Suzanne Stewart for allowing us to summarize her article about the Pocahontas County Board of Education’s February 18^th meeting.

At that meeting, Superintendent Lynne Bostic shared the results of the West Virginia Department of Education’s Office of Special Circumstance’s On-Site Review Report, and the declaration made on February 12^th by the West Virginia Board of Education regarding the state of emergency status of Pocahontas County Schools.  Bostic said she was in attendance at that meeting. “They went into an executive session to discuss our report,” she said. “I was not included in the executive session. They came back and Superintendent [Michele] Blatt read the declaration.”

Bostic read the declaration which is as follows:

“Having heard and considered the results of the Pocahontas County Schools Special Circumstance Review, I move that:

• The WVBOE declares that a state of emergency exists in Pocahontas County Schools under W.Va. Code 18-2E-5(m)(2).
• The WVBOE establish a six-month period for Pocahontas County Schools to correct identified deficiencies with prioritized support from the WVDE;
• The WVDE Office of Special Education conduct a comprehensive monitoring and review to ensure all policies and procedures regarding the provision of special education services comply with state and federal regulations.
• Pocahontas County Schools continues to investigate the unauthorized transcription of inaccurate credits and grades and take personnel action based on the results of the investigation.
• Pocahontas County Schools contract a WVDE-approved consultant to provide support and build leadership capacity at the central office and schools.
• The WVDE Office of School Finance conduct a comprehensive review of local accounting practices and financial transactions including, but not limited to, compliance with local procedures regarding employee contracts and stipends.
• The WVBOE receive a six-month progress update from the WVDE and Pocahontas County Schools at the August 2025 meeting and take action based on the report including, but not limited to, an extension of the State of Emergency or immediate intervention in the operation of the Pocahontas County school system.”

Board member Frosty McNabb was upset because the BOE members were not advised that all this was happening and had to find out off the street and from social media. He commented that “We’re getting blamed for everything, and we don’t even know about it.”

One of the problematic areas that arose in the study was the way transcripts were being entered and handled at PCHS. Assistant Principal Chris Campbell and Dean of Students Casey Griffith gave an update on the transcripts issue and how the process was going in making changes.

Campbell explained that work began on fixing the transcripts before the review was done and continues to make progress. Campbell and Griffith explained that the system in which they enter grades – WVEIS, West Virginia Education Information System – was upgraded and due to the upgrades, some of the transcripts had issues that are being fixed now. “Let me clarify here,” Campbell said. “It’s not that their grades are incorrect. Those aren’t the revisions that need to be made. It’s what something was called.” She explained that what was incorrect were the codes for the classes the students were enrolled in. Those are being updated, but it takes time

The board said parents are concerned about transcripts getting sent to colleges and asked if there is an issue with this now. Griffith said she has been working with colleges and is making sure that the correct transcripts are sent for the students.

The board thanked both Campbell and Griffith for the update and their work on fixing the issue.

Part 2 of this story will cover the other matters handled at this meeting.