Pocahontas BOE Members Not Happy With CEFP Report

Marlinton, WV – Pocahontas County Board of Education President Kenny Vance was not happy after perusing the Comprehensive Education Facilities Plan as prepared by the architectural firm of Williamson Shriver. He and other board members have found errors in the huge document and are dubious that architect Bill Ratcliff can make the necessary corrections before the August 16th deadline to submit the document to the WV Dept of Education.

Every school system in West Virginia is required to submit a Comprehensive Education Facilities Plan every 10 years. Williamson Shriver is one of several firms approved by the state to prepare this report. Vance says he’s frustrated that the board didn’t see the document until late last week, given that the board started this process late last year.

“We signed a contract with your firm to do it and we jumped on it and then it just seemed like it stopped” says Vance.

This past spring Vance asked former school Superintendent Patrick Law and school Treasurer Alice Irvine to contact Ratcliff to encourage him to finish the report, but the delays continued. Not only did members get the report just over a week prior to the due date, Vance says there are glaring errors in the document.

“I’m familiar with Green Bank school and Pocahontas County High School. Pocahontas County HS has not used fuel oil as long as I can remember, and I started [working] there in 1970” says Vance. “But you’ve got fuel oil down as their source of heat.”

Board members fear that the mistakes in the document may cost them future funding from the state School Building Authority. Ratcliff admitted that it was his firms’ responsibility to do the building evaluations, but offered no other explanation for the mistakes. He does offer some consolation.

“Fortunately it’s a living document so the changes can be made throughout the course of whatever time the [state] board feels like they need to get that done” says Ratcliff.

He says this can be done by means of an amendment to the state Dept of Education and the SBA. He points out that county school systems are required to update their CEFP each year.

There are other smaller mistakes in the document, such as incorrect names in the list of central office personnel, and the misspelling of Marlinton on several pages. Board member Margaret Worth expresses the dissatisfaction of the board.

“The frustration is the amount of money that we’re required to pay for this service, and then it’s like the last minute” says Worth. “It’s frustrating knowing that is a state mandate that you’ve got to pay this money, and then you feel like you don’t have a document you can use.”

Despite their reservations, the board approved the CEFP contingent on Ratcliff making several corrections to the document before it’s submitted to the state on August 16th. The approval also stipulates that the remaining balance of over $11,000.00 owed to Williamson Shriver Architects will be withheld until the document is corrected to the boards’ satisfaction. Pocahontas County school Superintendent CC Lester says he’ll write a letter to the architectural firm and Governor Manchin expressing the boards displeasure with the firms work on this report.

In other business, the board approved an extensive Personnel agenda as follows.

Pocahontas County Board of Education Personnel Agenda approved August 9th, 2010.

The board approved the creation of the following new positions – Classroom/Bus aide at Green Bank Elementary-Middle, Technology Coordinator for the county, Student Interventionists – one each for Green Bank, Marlinton Middle and the high school, and an Itinerant Special Education Classroom/bus aide for the county.

Kelli Hickson is employed as a teacher for grades 1-5, halftime at Hillsboro Elementary

Pamela McCurdy’s request to transfer from Hillsboro Elementary to third grade at Marlinton Elementary is approved.

Michael Dipasquale is resigning as a teacher at Pocahontas County HS, and as head baseball coach, assistant basketball coach and athletic coordinator for soccer. Dipasquale has taken a job in another county.

Leah Shinaberry is employed as a math teacher and Kimberly Coleman as the Cheerleader coach for football and basketball both positions at the high school.

The following are employed as teachers for homebound/hospitalized students – Susan Borrer, Jessica Dean, Samantha McClure, Christine Campbell, Diane Hoover and Rosanne Zeni.

Selina Gay, Phillip Gibson, Amanda Hicks, Susan Morrison and Julie Williams have all requested to be removed from the substitute lists. Superintendent Lester says they can request to be reinstated.

Other Employment Approved:

Gary Beverage and Nancy Martin as Technology Repair supervisors

Janet Cole, Michael Hudson, Carolyn Pennington, Diane Hoover, Debora Johnson, and Heather Simmons as substitute aides

Freddie Greer, Daryl Shinaberry, Mark Mengele and Adam Taylor as substitute bus operators with Daniel Arbogast II, Darin McKenny, and Patrick Gibson as emergency substitute bus operators

Lois Ann Beverage, Valerie Lambert, Sarah Hedrick and Heather Simmons as substitute cooks for the county with Sabrina Jordan for use in an emergency

C Loy Burgess, Roger Irvine, Heather Simmons, Sarah Hedrick, Sandra Perdue and Gary Taylor as substitute custodians

Gregory Irvine and Roger Irvine as substitute maintenance workers

Gregory Irvine as a substitute mechanic

Kristin Kinnison, Brenda Williams, and Vicki Rose as substitute secretary/accountant

Michael Burns and Charles Young as mentors for county teachers with a change in the supplement from $300.00 per semester per person mentored to $500.00

Cindy Wade Price as Custodian II at Green Bank and Pocahontas County HS

The board approved the submitted 48 person list of substitute teachers for the 2010-2011 school year.

The board also approved a stipend of $150.00 for teachers attending a Math training session at the high school and gave Superintendent Lester permission to fill vacancies prior to the opening of the 2010-2011 school year.