FAIRMONT – Marion County’s Board of Education convened its first meeting of the new fiscal year Monday under a microscope.
A corrective action plan ordered by the state Department of Education in March – after the debate over the renewal of current Superintendent Donna Heston’s contract spilled onto social media – has been officially approved by the department, the district announced.
Which is why Pastor James Saunders, the 30-year incumbent elected to BOE president during the meeting, made one of his first orders of business a call … to break bread.
Saunders wants a work session and lunch with central office employees and teachers and staffers.
“So people will see the Board of Education as transparent,” he said of the elected body that oversees the state’s 11th-largest school district.
“So they’ll know they can trust us. Because it’s all about the kids.”
During Heston’s contract talks during the spring, it was all about taking sides.
Then-president George Boyles, who retired after choosing not to run for reelection, was supportive of the superintendent.
So was Tom Dragich, who logged decades in the system as a teacher, coach and principal.
Fellow members Donna Costello and Kevin Rogers were opposed, however, and Saunders was too – initially.
Until he reversed his decision later, following a 90-minute executive session.
He and his fellow board members were flagged by the review from the state department’s Office of Accountability and its Division of External Operations in the report, which was chronicled after two rounds of visits and interviews across the district.
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.”
Costello and Dragich, reelected to their seats during the May primary, were sworn in, along with longtime teacher and union activist Sam Brunett, who was elected to his first term.
