FAIRMONT – After a state review this past spring that found fault both with Marion County Schools and its Board of Education, Superintendent Donna Heston said Thursday the district is moving forward with a mandated plan to correct the ills.
The state Department of Education launched the review after the wrangling which occurred during the Marion BOE’s deadlock over whether to renew Heston’s contract for the coming three years.
Then-President George Boyles, who chose not to seek reelection during the May primary, and current member Tom Dragich, who served as a teacher and principal in the county before running for school board, were both in favor of keeping the superintendent in place in the central office.
Fellow members Donna Costello, Kevin Rogers and Pastor James Saunders voted nay.
Saunders, a longtime incumbent who has served since the 1990s, would later reverse his decision.
However, it wasn’t without a public admonishment over social media chatter – a rebuke which added to the issue.
At least in part.
“Too many people are making the wrong assumptions by reading comments from people who don’t know what they’re talking about,” Saunders said after a special meeting March 5.
That was following the 90-minute executive session after which he made the deciding vote in Heston’s favor.
Marion’s BOE, as said, didn’t escape the scrutiny of the state Department of Education’s Office of Accountability and its Division of External Operations, which completed the on-site review after two visits to the district later that month.
Board members, the report said, “violated boundaries” by visiting classrooms on their own, and meeting with teachers, students and school staff, on their own.
Further, the report said, some board members investigated parent complaints and then put “central office staff on the spot” by waiting until public meetings to address issues – “rather than communicating with the superintendent immediately.”
But that’s the issue, principals and others said, during the review.
“An icy and uncertain climate,” some interview respondents said, makes communicating with confidence all but impossible.
Heston, though, said effective communication is evident in a steady uptick in test scores in the county – not to mention the sweeping improvements currently being made in the arena of school safety.
Come fall, every building in the mostly aging district will be outfitted with a Safe Schools entrance and ballistics glass, she said.
Meanwhile, the local superintendent said she’s confident the state board will approve a 17-point corrective plan Marion Schools submitted as per the review.
“While we do not agree with all of the conclusions and characterizations contained within their report, we respect the review process and have fully complied with the WVDE’s request to develop and submit a corrective action plan,” Heston said in an email Thursday.
“Throughout this process, our focus has remained unchanged: serving the students, families and employees of Marion County Schools,” the superintendent continued.
“Our district has demonstrated quantifiable and measurable success through improved student achievement, recognition at the state and national levels of our students, schools, and leaders, expanded educational opportunities for students, and a continued commitment to school improvement.”
