WV Department of Education Explains Pocahontas Schools’ State of Emergency
At the March 11th Pocahontas County BOE meeting, the members heard from Dr. Alexandra Criner, the Director of Accountability for the WV Department of Education (WVDE) and from Deidre Cline, who is assigned to the Pocahontas Schools as an advisor, about the “State of Emergency” the state has placed the Pocahontas County Schools under. In its official report which placed the schools here under the state of emergency, the Office of Accountability for the WVDE cited student transcription entry errors resulting in inaccurate credits and grades; failure to follow required policies and procedures regarding special education; bad local accounting practices and financial transactions including, but not limited to, compliance with local procedures regarding employee contracts and stipends; and poor leadership.
Criner told the members that she has observed that the staff at PCHS and the entire school system, are very dedicated to their students, and said the PCHS staff “inherited a lot of problems that were not their doing.” She pointed out that the people here were not the problem, but a lot of the problems were issues resulting from misinterpretations of the procedures, and those were made worse by incorrect “word-of-mouth” misinterpretation of the policies and procedures by the staff, because during verbal interpretations, the “message gets lost in the communication.”
Criner said that now during this state of emergency, the schools need to establish and correctly implement procedures and protocols which, if done, will solve the problems here. She also said that she is very optimistic, after having met and observed the staff here, that PCHS has the potential to become “a world-class high school.” Criner said that correctly handling the state of emergency requires a “sense of urgency and prioritization.”
Criner went on to explain that what the state of emergency means is that the schools will be given 6 months to show improvement, which will then be presented to the WV State Board of Education at their August, 2025 meeting. Depending on the amount of improvement demonstrated at the end of the 6 months, the state might: terminate the state of emergency; extend it by 6 more months; or, if the county schools have shown an unwillingness to change and improve, the state may directly intervene and take over running the Pocahontas County Schools. Criner did say, however, that from what she has observed of the staff here, she does not anticipate that the last drastic action will be necessary. The goal for that August meeting, she said, if for the schools to be able to demonstrate that they are willing and progressing in fixing things here.
Diedre Cline, who is serving as both an advisor for the schools regarding the state of emergency, and as a liaison with the State Department of Education, said she will be providing updates on the schools’ improvement efforts. She also said she believes the responsibilities of the principals are: to maintain open communication with the parents and students, and to enforce & support the chain of command, while the teachers must also: maintain the chain of command, be willing to accept growth and change, and keep a positive attitude. Cline said all staff must avoid the “rumor mill” and follow educators’ golden rule, which is: “do what is best for the kids rather than for the adults.” She said that if the staff does those things successfully, it can result in “one heck of a comeback story” and “it will be a totally different story in a year.”
Board member Sam Gibson asked Cline if these fixes only apply to the high school, and was told that no, the lessons learned at the high school will also be applied to all the other schools in the county. Member Frosty McNabb asked if there was any criminality involved in these errors, and will anyone be held accountable, and was told that the state is still investigating and will recommend any appropriate actions if necessary.
Be sure to listen for part two of our story about this meeting, where we will report the other actions taken, as well as on School Treasurer Sherri Radcliff’s explanation of the FY 2025-2026 proposed budget.
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