Pocahontas Board of Ed hears about storm damage

Marlinton, W.Va. – Two new members of the Pocahontas County Board of Education were sworn in during the board meeting Monday night, along with a re-elected member. Board treasurer Alice Irvine administered the oath to newly elected members Hanna Sizemore, of Droop Mountain, and Cheryl Beverage, of Clover Lick. Kenneth Vance, of Green Bank, reaffirmed his oath.

The first order of business was reorganization of officers. The board elected Emery Grimes as president and Janet McNeel as vice-president and re-appointed Vance to the Region IV Education Service Agency board.

Superintendant C.C. Lester recognized several people who assisted during the recent windstorm and power outage emergency.

“Everyone’s been through a trying time here for the last week or so,” he said. “Some people need to be, I think, recognized, that I’m aware of. Thomas Barnisky at the high school cooked Friday and Saturday over here for the EMS people. Summers Vaughan tried to coordinate the program down at Hillsboro between the Pretty Penny and get the cafeteria up there. Morgan McComb came back and forth to check the water level at the high school because they had trouble with a pump – make sure it was up. Sandy Irvine came back after they took showers at Green Bank Elementary Middle School to check the facility out up there. Sheriff Jonese worked tirelessly trying to get the meals in and some relief for the people. Chief Deputy Walton – I met him last week – he was at Pretty Penny. And special thanks to the lady at Pretty Penny for bringing the meals for the community down there.”

Lester said the board should consider additional freezer space for emergencies.

“I think it’s something we need to look at in the future,” he said. “If anything like this happens again, we need to be better prepared. One of my concerns when I first got here was a lack of storage for frozen tamales and things like that and I’m going to look at pursuing, maybe, obtaining an area where we can put large freezers in, or where we can move in from all the schools or businesses. Things like that. That’s something I think we really need to look at.”

The superintendant said food loss was minimal because stocks are normally depleted at this time of year.

Lester reports serious damage at Hillsboro Elementary School from the wind and rain.

“Hillsboro Elementary School, we lost that roof,” he said. “Parts laying out in the field and we can’t do anything. The insurance has been contacted. Hopefully, they’ll be in here either today or tomorrow. We can’t move it until they come and look at it.

“On the backside of the school, where the roof, it came off, there was considerable damage in there. All those ceilings in Hillsboro Elementary School is that popcorn drywall spray, it came through on them. The tile’s gone, of course. Computers got wet and any other supplies in those rooms.”

Lester also reported minor damage at Pocahontas County High School and the Board of Education offices. Irvine said insurance would cover the losses but the board would pay a $2,500 deductible for each claim. The treasurer said she would try to consolidate the losses into a single claim.

The board approved hiring Alpha Associates as the architect to design a new cafeteria building at Hillsboro Elementary School. McNeel said the firm gave a great presentation and previously had done excellent work at PCHS.

Irvine reported that a 1,500 square foot modular home, built by the high school construction class, was for sale and available for inspection. Bids are due by August 1. Contact the board office for more information.

In personnel actions, the board:

– Hired: Sara McClintic as principal at Green Bank School; Shannon Arbogast as girls basketball coach at Marlinton Middle School; Jessica Hays as health/PE teacher and assistant basketball coach at PCHS; Jennifer Nail as math teacher at PCHS and Andrew McNabb as assistant varsity basketball coach at PCHS.
The board accepted the resignation of paraprofessional/supervisory aide Donna F. Gragg , due to retirement, and accepted the resignation of librarian/media specialist Joanna Burt Kinderman.