Dr. Leatha Williams Sworn in as New Pocahontas County School Superintendent

Times are changing at the Pocahontas County Schools. Listen as Sarah Hamilton administers the oath of office to new Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Leatha Williams, at the July 1^st BOE meeting.

“I Leatha G. Williams, do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America, and the Constitution of the State of West Virginia, and I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of Superintendent of Pocahontas County Schools, to the best of my skill and judgement, so help me God.”

That change was reflected immediately with the new ideas and formats Williams announced at the meeting, including a new emphasis on accountability.

She introduced an Accountability Dashboard which will measure areas of concern, including the performance of the Board of Education, the Central Office, and the educational progress of students. Williams said that diligently following the principles in this dashboard will ensure that the county schools will meet the standards needed to recover from the mistakes of the past which had led to the state of emergency imposed on the school system by the State Board of Education.

To further demonstrate her intention to take charge, Dr. Williams took a seat with the board members, right next to Emery Grimes, the board President, and took a more active role in the meeting then her predecessors ever had.

Williams also included other changes in several of the agenda items. Among those were changing the job description of the open position of Assistant Principal at PCHS, from an emphasis on being the Athletic Director to concentrating on Special Education, which was one of the areas identified by the State Board as not being run or supervised correctly. Another change was her proposal to more professionally revise the formal letterhead of the schools.

Williams also asked the board to alter the Julie Dunlap’s contract, by realigning her duties from being Director of Child Nutrition & Food Service; Technology; Homeless Liaison; and CTE to being the Director of Child Nutrition; Attendance; Assessment; and Student Affairs.

Additionally, Williams asked them to approve changing Stephanie Burns’ contract from being Coordinator of Federal Programs and Instructional Coach to being Coordinator of Federal Programs, School Improvement; Textbooks; and Community Engagement. The members approved all of those changes.

During the personnel section, Member Sam Gibson and several other members questioned the creation of an additional Director for Personnel, Technology, and Student Services. What upset them was that Kristy Hammonds has been doing a terrific job organizing and running the website, social media, and other media. Williams explained that Hammonds will still run those “front-end” media, just not some of the administrative things such as equipment purchasing and maintenance.  Ultimately, the members approved that new director position.

The members also had a lengthy discussion about the creation of volleyball as a new girls’ sport. Williams explained that there is no Title 9 violation by having more girls’ sports then boys’ sports, although there would be one if they were creating more boys’ sports than girls’ sports. She did say that if girls’ volleyball was added, it needs to be done right. Some of her concerns were that because the gym floor is being rebuilt, the new team will need to find a place to practice, and all games will be away games for the same reason. The members decided to approve the new sport contingently for one year to see how it works out.

The members also approved the following:

• The LevelUp Course Amendment with Glenville State University.
• A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) concerning services with Deirdre Cline
• CSBO mentoring from Sherry Radcliff as a sole proprietor for $250.00 per day to not exceed 39.6 days.
• A contract with Lesa Hart for Speech Pathology services, to run from July 1, 2025 through July 30, 2025.
• And the recommended personnel actions

They went into an executive session over a student matter prior to adjourning.