Interview with New Pocahontas County School Superintendent

We recently interviewed brand new Pocahontas County School Superintendent Dr. Leatha Williams

Dr. Williams, can you tell our listeners about yourself?

“I am a family person,” Dr. Williams answered, “and that’s really important to me. And, when I was looking for another job, looking at Pocahontas County and the Natural beauty here, was certainly one of the most important things that attracted me here. I lived in Greenbrier County on Route 92 in a little area called Neola. Looking at that area where I grew up, and looking at Pocahontas County, it just kind of bridged that gap. It made me feel like it was a coming home”

“I had come from Braxton County – I’ve worked there for about 10 years. I’ve worked in technology, child nutrition, Federal programs, curriculum and instruction, textbooks. Kinda moved through a couple of different positions there that were all the functions of a county office and how they operate.”

“My educational background is I have a Doctorate of Public Ed Administration from Marshall University. I also have a curriculum specialist degree from Marshall University, and my undergraduate degree is from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.”

“My first teaching experience was in North Carolina. I worked as a High School Teacher, I taught Social Studies, Geography, and World History, and then I went to Eastern Greenbrier Middle School as the Assistant Principal for a few years, and then to Rupert Elementary. While I was at Rupert elementary, we became a School of Excellence. I was the Principal of the Year for Education Alliance. So, I think all of those things together brought me to this point in my career of being a Superintendent. I am really excited about it.”

What do you see as the most daunting challenges faced by our schools?

“Well, there is a couple of them,” said Dr. Williams. “The first challenge is that Pocahontas County High School is under a state of emergency, and we need to do a deep needs assessment. They have made a lot of growth, but there is still a lot of things they have to grow on to move off of that state of emergency. Also, since I have gotten here, I have done a comprehensive needs assessment of our Special (Education) programs, which is another area that the state is looking at for intervention. So, when the state has you on their radar for efficiency and effectiveness, that is a daunting challenge to move off of that radar. However, I went to the West Virginia Department of Education with Board President Grimes and laid out a plan on how we can move off of that moving forward, and asked for a grace period since I am new to the county, to work on building county relationships, to work on professional development and trainings, to get us where we need to be with our procedures and protocols. I think it is going to be a daunting challenge for me, that it is a daunting challenge for the whole community, because everyone here has to pull together for the school system, to move us off of that state of emergency.”

Do you see any accomplishments so far?

“Yes,” Dr. Williams answered, “some of the accomplishments that I have done so far are we have talked about team building; we’ve talked about how we are going to support our schools; we’ve talked about policies and procedures and processes, like I said, I went to the West Virginia Department of Education and had a lot of clarification with those. So, I have planned a principals leadership academy so we can talk about our needs in our schools; we are going to talk about academics; we are going to talk about protocols and procedures; and then we are going to talk about how we support our teachers. And, I have also planned a Teachers’ Academy, and that will be at the end of August. We are going to work with our school leadership and then we are going to have our school leaders work with our teachers.”

How about our schools’ future prospects?

“I think the future is bright for Pocahontas County Schools,” said Dr. Williams, “because I have not met one person here that isn’t so helpful, so nice, and so willing. So, if we can capitalize on that, if we can get a problem-solving framework in place, and all the arrows going in the right direction, I think Pocahontas County schools is going to rise back to the top. They have been at the top before academically, and we will be at the top again. Some of the things that are important aesthetically – looking at not necessarily just with facilities, but I think we have to have strong sports teams -my son was a two-time state champion wrestler- So, I know that in the community, the quality of the programs we offer our students -the quality of our football team, the quality of our basketball team, the quality of the facilities that our students are playing in- that brings community pride. Those are necessary, just as academics are necessary, and learning how to support all those and grow all those is how you move a school system forward. I hope to get out into the community, so I hope people see me in the community (and) they introduce themselves, because the more people I know, the more stories I hear, is the better my ability will be to address the schools.”