C.C. Lester Named New Pocahontas Superintendent

Marlinton, WV – The Pocahontas County Board of Education has chosen Cyrus Cecil Lester to be the next Superintendent of schools for Pocahontas County. Lester’s appointment was approved unanimously at the board meeting Monday night. Lester, the former principal of Marlinton Middle School, was successful over the other two candidates, Green Bank Principal Ruth Bland and former Tolsia High School Principal Tab Mathis. The appointment is effective July 1st, 2010, pending the completion of a contract with the board.

In other business, Green Bank Science teacher Anne Smith and Rachel Rosen, Director of the Pulsar Search Collaboratory study at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, handed out certificates of appreciation to several students for their work with the project. About 200 students in six states currently participate in the study to find new pulsars and other astronomical phenomena. The county students involved in this project are Jamie Booth, Nathanial Langston, Miles Goodall, Phil Whiteis, Galen Sexton, Alex Rodriguez and Alicia Cadrette.

Boothe also won a special award for analyzing the most data during a recent data marathon. Boothe looked at about 3000 plots of data and says it was very time consuming.

“For about a week, I spent pretty much day and night on the computer” said Booth.

The program is open to all county middle and high schools students.

Smith also told the board about a mobile agricultural education van currently at Green Bank Elementary. The van, sponsored by the West Virginia Farm Bureau, uses presentations and experiments to teach pre-kingergarten through 5th grade students about agriculture and the importance of farming.

During his report, Superintendent Dr. Patrick Law says the West Virginia School Building Authority has decided not to fund upgrades to the Hillsboro Elementary school cafeteria. Law says Hillsboro Principal Terrance Beam will discuss options for the cafeteria at a future board meeting.

Board student representative Nathan Hamons says the baseball and softball teams have records of 5-and-12, and 8-and-5, respectively.

Hamons says seniors are busy preparing for the graduation ceremony, while underclassmen are working on scheduling classes for next year. One new class offering is a course in phlebotomy and medical terminology.

Scott E. Garber has been hired as the Forestry instructor. Sammantha J. Britton will take over as the new Agricultural Education teacher. Both positions begin with the 2010-2011 fiscal year.

The following people are approved to work during the Group Workcamps Foundation Project at the high school during the third week of June: Caleb Barkley as a custodian, Rebecca Evans and Joyce McLaughlin as cafeteria managers, Madeline Galford, Sarah Hedrick, Sherri Howe, Valerie Lambert, Kimberly McComb, and Kay Wiley as cooks, and Nancy Green as a substitute cook.

The next regular meeting of the Pocahontas County Board of Education will be Monday, May 10th.