Kesterson Recognized For Teacher Of The Year Honors By Pocahontas Board of Ed

Marlinton, WV – Pocahontas County HS teacher Cammy Kesterson was formally recognized as Pocahontas County Teacher of the Year during the Pocahontas County Board of Education meeting Monday night. In another ceremony held earlier this year, Kesterson was also recognized by high school Principal Tom Sanders.

“You know when you hire a teacher, I sometimes compare it to getting married,” says Sanders. “You never really know what you’re going to get for sure until you’ve lived with them for a year or two. But we did really well here in picking up this teacher from Grant County.”

Superintendent CC Lester also recognized the Warrior football team and girls volleyball team for making it into the state playoffs. Although both teams lost in the first round, Lester says he’s impressed with the level of sportsmanship shown by both teams. Other recognitions were offered by the board for the Green Bank school fall festival, a successful craft show at Marlinton Middle school, and a big thanks to the Pocahontas County Honor Corps for their presentations in the county schools.

The Honor Corps has visited every school except Hillsboro. Honor Corps Vice Commander Harlan Whiting says they will visit that school as soon as they receive an invitation to do so.

In other business, a proposal to pay almost $28,000.00 for a new maintenance truck was unanimously turned down by the board. While there is no dispute that the current maintenance vehicle needs to be replaced, the board members feel that the timing is all wrong given the uncertainty of the reauthorization of the forest money funding. They say buying a new truck while contemplating the possibility of laying off teachers sends the wrong message.

The board gave Treasurer Alice Irvine verbal permission to move forward with a project to install an intercom system at Marlinton Elementary School. Irvine says the quote for the project is over $12,000.00. However she says because there is equipment left over from a similar project at Green Bank, she anticipates the final cost will be lower. Money for the project comes from a safe schools grant.

Student representative Chloe Bland gives an update on happenings at the high school.

“Girls basketball started last week and boys started this morning,” says Bland. “The cheerleaders participated in a regional competition last Saturday. The culinary class will be hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for parents and guests on Wednesday. The FFA sold over $20,000.00 dollars worth of fruit and they’re still counting.”

“The greenhouse is getting a renovation; it’s getting a new concrete floor, and the greenhouse will now have radiant heat. The seniors worked on financial aid last week, and the annual Elf auction will be the second week of December.”

On the personnel agenda, the board approved:
a change in classification for Susan Carr from Supervisory Classroom Aide/Bus Aide to Supervisory Classroom Aide/Bus Aide/Paraprofessional at Marlinton Elementary school
Employment of Lora Miller at Marlinton Elementary
And employment of Stephanie Barkley as substitute secretary/accountant for the county.

The board also took the following actions:

Accepted a quote from Garber Concrete Work for installation of a radiant heat concrete floor in the greenhouse at the high school
Approved a contract with Allen Bell to serve as a mentor for Green Bank Principal Melvin Lindsey
Approval to submit a WV Dept of Education Innovation and Drop Out Zone grant application for a three year $300,000.00 grant
And approved the expulsion for one year of a male high school student for possession of one prescription pill, a knife and a lighter. He was found cutting the pill in a bathroom at the school.

The next meeting of the Poc BOE will be Monday, Dec 5th at Marlinton Middle School.

Story By

Heather Niday

Heather is our Program Director and Traffic Manager. She started with Allegheny Mountain Radio as a volunteer deejay. She then joined the AMR staff in February of 2007. Heather grew up in the Richmond, Virginia, area and now lives in Arbovale, West Virginia with her husband Chuck. Heather is a wonderful flute player, and choir director for Arbovale UMC. You can hear Heather along with Chuck on Tuesday nights from 6 to 8pm as they host two hours of jazz on Something Different.

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