The state’s School Building Authority made history on Wednesday supplementing needy school districts statewide while bringing about a potential end to concerns over a nearly half billion-dollar federal clawback.
The state’s School Building Authority made history on Wednesday supplementing needy school districts statewide while bringing about a potential end to concerns about a nearly half billion-dollar federal clawback.
Applause cascaded through the unusually packed School Building Authority (SBA) meeting when Gov. Jim Justice announced $150 million in funding. This money, recently approved by the legislature, is in addition to the $111 million already designated for 2024 school construction projects.
Usually the SBA has to make limited funding decisions on which school district can replace failing infrastructure, enhance school safety protocols, or upgrade education technology. This is the first time in its history the SBA could say yes to every school district request.
Authority executive director Andy Neptune said school district superintendents who thought their requests had been rejected were elated.
SBA Executive Director Andy Neptune reads off school districts with project funding approved. Photo by Randy Yohe/West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
“To be able to give the money, the finance that we’re going to give to them today, to get their projects done, I know is a big burden lifted off of them from the personal conversations that I’ve had with them,” Neptune said.
Sitting in to chair the meeting, Justice told the story of a Berkeley County grade schooler’s reaction on Tuesday to learning he was getting a new school building. The student told Justice, “Thanks for making me feel happy.” Justice also said the $150 million, coupled with other state education funding, will help see a U.S. Department of Education waiver granted. He said that will remove the threat of a near half billion-dollar federal clawback regarding state education spending during the pandemic.
“That’s not going to happen,” Justice said. “There’s not going to be a clawback, unless people go back on their word and everything. And I feel all the assurances that that’s not going to happen.”
The bonus dollars also let the SBA approve major improvements and needs projects rejected in the past funding cycle.
For a listing of SBA school district project requests granted at today’s meeting, click here,
Students in Berkeley County stayed home from school Monday following a “security incident” Friday involving a network outage that limited IT operations.
Students in Berkeley County stayed home from school Monday following a “security incident” Friday involving a network outage that limited IT operations. The county school district is currently trying to restore access to the network, working with both cybersecurity professionals and local law enforcement to find the cause of the incident. The county is also investigating if any personal data from students was compromised.
“Answering this question is a key objective of our investigation,” County Superintendent Ronald Stephens said in a public statement. “If it is determined that there was unauthorized access to sensitive personal information, we will notify individuals in accordance with applicable laws.”
Stephens said the county would also provide resources to families to help protect against potential information misuse, if such a problem arises. Berkeley County Schools services 19,722 students, according to its Facebook page.
An emailed statement from Berkeley County Schools Communications Director Elaine Bobo to West Virginia Public Broadcasting said they will provide an update once the investigation is complete and the network is back online.
“We want our students and the community to know that we place a high value on maintaining the integrity and security of the data we hold in our systems, and we are working diligently to restore operations and furthering our investigation of the incident,” Bobo said. “We will provide an additional update once the restoration process and our investigation are complete.”
A follow-up release Monday afternoon announced schools would reopen Tuesday while the investigation continues.
As part of our “Returning Home” series, education reporter Liz McCormick sat down with Berkeley County resident and educator Elizabeth Anne Greer Mobley.
Mobley moved from Maryland to Martinsburg with her family when she was 14. The now 30-year-old mother of three is passionate about improving special education for K-12 students in West Virginia.
Today, she’s the Parent Engagement Resource Center Coordinator for Berkeley County Schools, but there was a time when she took her talents and expertise outside the Mountain State.
We talk with Mobley about what brought her back home.
The transcript below is from the original broadcast. It has been lightly edited for clarity.
Listen to the extended version of the interview for more of the conversation.
Extended: Berkeley County Special Education Teacher Lifts Up Students With Disabilities
McCormick: What ultimately brought you to leave West Virginia?
Mobley: After attending Shepherd University and getting my [undergraduate] degree, I graduated in the spring of 2013, [and] I was a special education teacher at a middle school in Berkeley County. I was a teacher for children who were a part of our IEP special education system, and they had Autism, other health impairments, which we call OHI, and then some were classified as having behavioral and emotional disorders.
I wasn’t planning to leave [West Virginia], but a friend reached out to me and asked me to send my resume to him. And he was like, ‘We have positions open in Virginia. Why don’t you just come and give it a chance?’ And I was like, I love where I work. I don’t want to do that. And he was like, ‘But you want to start a family, and unfortunately, financially, this might be a better option for you.’
I applied, I interviewed, and I got the job and for financial reasons and wanting to buy a home, my husband and I decided, maybe that was the right choice to make at that time.
McCormick: So, Elizabeth, how long did you end up living outside of West Virginia and working in Loudoun County, Virginia?
Mobley: So we made the decision to not move from West Virginia. We wanted to stay close to my family, but what I decided to do was commute every day.
I constantly looked for opportunities to move though, because I became a teacher there, there were teacher grant programs for down payments on homes. There were a lot of programs that were available to people in my type of situation. But still financially, we couldn’t afford that.
So I sacrificed a lot of sleep and a lot of time making that decision to drive back and forth.
McCormick: Special education is an area that is in a critical shortage in West Virginia and across the nation. Why was that a field that you felt compelled to get into?
Mobley: My youngest sister – there’s four of us, and I’m the eldest – the third girl has Down syndrome. Watching and going through school with her, I had one of those beautifully intense experiences where I witnessed everything my parents went through with her both medically and with her experience in the education system. And I always knew that, that was a population of underserved people that I wanted to be involved with.
My whole life, I was standing up for my little sister when people were trying to bully her or bully me and my other siblings, because we had a sister with special needs. And I just could not stand the fact that there weren’t more people standing up for those that are differently abled. And that was my first piquing interest. But I thought I was going to be a lawyer, so at Shepherd I studied political science.
But right after I graduated, it just hit me that no, that’s not what I was put here to do. I was put here to serve and serve the differently abled and support their families. And so I got my master’s in special education. And it’s just been like, the most beautiful decision I’ve ever made. Because now I’m a mom of a kid with special needs, who has an IEP in West Virginia.
Courtesy of Elizabeth Mobley
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The Mobley family.
McCormick: What was the impetus that made you think, ‘I really want to bring my work and my passion for special education back to West Virginia?’
Mobley: I was stewing in my commute, there and back, and the more I was driving back and forth, the more I realized that I’m quality. I love these children. I treat them with such care and respect, and they are deserving of as much opportunity and adult stakeholders and persons who care about their individualized successes and growth.
So if I care that much, why am I taking all this care to another state and giving it to children whom my child won’t interact with? And so it dawned on me that it’s not fair to my community that I’m choosing the money. I had a talk with myself, and I was choosing money over the opportunity to improve the area that I live in.
McCormick: What were some of the challenges that you faced coming back to West Virginia? I know you mentioned there were some financial differences based on when you worked in Loudoun County versus coming back to Berkeley County. But were there any other challenges?
Mobley: So, I have my master’s degree, and going from teaching in Loudoun County back to Berkeley County, I lost more than $25,000 in yearly salary, which for some people in West Virginia, that is their yearly salary. For me that made a difference between us being able to buy a house, so adjusting to that huge, new deficit [was challenging], and in addition, I’m a person of color.
Berkeley County is very diverse, and we’re growing exponentially in the diversity in this area, but there are only a few handful of educators who are people of color who are considered a part of that BIPOC educator community. BIPOC, meaning Black and indigenous people of color, so if you fall anywhere in that realm. I identify as Black. So to go into the buildings where I work and be one of, or maybe the only one, or one of two, one of three, you know, Black or persons of color educators, that was a bit challenging. But it was also challenging for my students who are not students of color, because I could have very well been their first, or one of their first experiences with a person of color as their educator.
It was challenging because even with the rate in which [Berkeley County is] growing in diversity, a lot of the parents still did not have a lot of interactions or engagements with people of color. And that was challenging for me learning how to navigate this system as not only having to educate my students, but also gently educate their parents and families on what it is to have this cultural competency and diversity and community in the education system.
I have found that I have had to navigate very delicately. And sometimes that hurts and other times, it’s like, I’m digging my heels in, because I know I’m making a positive impact.
McCormick: Three years ago, you were working in Loudoun County, Virginia. You were getting paid more there, and there are other states that may have more opportunity for you and your family. Why come back to West Virginia, and do you want to stay?
Mobley: My husband and I have talked about it many times, and because he’s working in this community, and I work in his community, we know that there are at least two of us who are trying to give back. I plan to stay. We at this point in time don’t see ourselves anywhere else. We’re licensed foster and adoptive parents, too, and so any way that we can give back and love on this area that we now call home, we do. And it was the best decision that I have made.
My life is in this work, and West Virginia is a state of high need in so many different areas. Disability support services are one of them. I know I am only one person, but if I can use my education and talents to help cultivate a culture of love and acceptance and responsibility to be change makers, especially within this world of special needs and special education, the differently abled and disability support services, that’s what I’m going to do. For as long as God allows me, I’m going to do it, and I’m going to do it starting here.
Schools across West Virginia closed Monday, March 16, for at least two weeks in an effort to help stem the transmission of the coronavirus.
Since the shutdown was announced, West Virginians around the state have been working to make sure students are fed. According to the West Virginia Department of Education, more than two-thirds of school-aged children, or more than 183,000, qualify for free or reduced-priced meals.
Mountaineers are getting creative. Some schools are offering curbside food pickups, putting lunches on school busses, and in some communities restaurants, food banks and churches are stepping up.
West Virginians are finding ways to come together in this time where people are being asked to socially distance.
Providing In Wheeling
Word started to get out that schools would likely be closing. That’s when Bob Bailey, who’s had a catering business in the upper Ohio Valley for almost three decades, said he had a sobering moment of realization.
“There are children that their main meal, or their only meal of the day, is their school lunch,” he said.
Credit Screenshot from Facebook
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Bob Bailey put a message out on social media and got a huge response.
Bailey put out a call on social media asking residents of Ohio and Marshall counties to: “please contact my business if a child relies on school lunches for their main meal of the day… I will gladly provide hot meals for children in need.”
In three days, he said more than 600 people responded, many offering to help.
“There were so many people reaching out saying, ‘Do you need money? Do you need people to come help pack lunches? Do you need people to run deliveries?’” he said.
Bailey said he received some financial donations that he’s set aside to defray food costs and that allowed him to buy biodegradable food containers. It didn’t take long to receive requests from families, including one set of grandparents who live nearby and are on a fixed income. They’re watching three grandchildren during the school closures.
“She contacted me yesterday, and she said she doesn’t know how she’s going to feed these children,” Bailey said. “So she came today and she cried, and then she made me cry.”
He said to keep in line with recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control to remain at least six feet apart, the two pretended to hug. He sent her home with meals ready to be made in the microwave or oven.
Credit Glynis Board / WVPB
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WVPB
Wheeling-based caterer Bob Bailey poses near the lunches he put together for kids out of school.
Bailey is already familiar with how to feed a variety of kids. His business, As You Like It Catering, regularly provides school lunches to Montessori’s, learning centers, preschools and elementary schools.
“We’re prepared. We know the right amount of proteins, grains, vegetables and fruits. So we make all of them balanced,” he said. “We have to follow those if we’re going to do the school lunches so we are providing all of that.”
So far, Bailey has put about 300 meals together. He provides families with enough food to last them through the week and sometimes throws in a little extra. He’s gotten additional requests this week and is now also preparing for next week.
Schools Get Creative
Credit Brittany Patterson / WVPB
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WVPB
Monongalia County Schools are offering curbside lunch pickups.
The state Department of Education is playing a large role in ensuring students across the state’s 55 counties have access to food while school is out. Clayton Burch, state superintendent of schools, said as of Monday, 505 drop sites are serving meals to kids.
In a news release, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin said the U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved a waiver application from the West Virginia Office of Child Nutrition to continue feeding students even though school would not be in session. Burch said they are currently working with the National Guard and other community resources like food pantries on how meals would be distributed.
Each school district has been given leeway to develop a plan that suits their individual needs.
“We asked them in a very short time period to come up with a plan to serve all their children who needed meals,” he said. “In some areas it’s a grab and go where you actually come to the school and pick it up. In other areas they’re actually running school busses to school bus stops, families homes, and I think you’ll see even other places where they’re actually tapping into community resources to get those meals out there.”
In Morgantown, Monongalia County Schools is providing curbside pickup of hot lunches between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., Monday through Friday, at all of the district’s 17 schools.
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Listen to reporter Brittany Patterson's dispatch from Morgantown High School.
“During these uncertain times, we’re not sure what will happen from day to day or minute to minute, and this gives, I think, a little bit of comfort to students that they know they can come to their school and still get a school lunch,” said Brian Kiehl, director of child nutrition for Monongalia County schools.
Credit Brittany Patterson / WVPB
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WVPB
A hot lunch being provided by Monongalia County Schools during school closures.
Kiehl said the staff is still figuring out how many lunches to make each day during the coronavirus closure. They handed out about 400 meals on Monday, more than 900 on Tuesday and about 1,500 on Wednesday. On a normal day they make about 6,500.
In the Eastern Panhandle, schools in Berkeley, Jefferson, Morgan, Mineral, Hampshire, Hardy, Grant and Pendleton counties are all providing their K-12 students free breakfast and lunch through this closure period — regardless of whether they normally receive free meals.
Some counties in the Eastern Panhandle and Potomac Highlands region are offering meals-to-go at all of their school locations — while others have centralized food pick up at specific schools. Additionally, like Morgantown, some counties are offering delivery services by utilizing bus routes.
Officials say students from the Eastern Panhandle region may pick up meals at anyschool in their county offering grab-and-go meals, regardless of whether they attend that school or not.
And at least three counties, Grant, Berkeley and Jefferson, say they’ll feed any child, ages 1-18, if they show up at one of their pick up locations.
Patrick Murphy, Berkeley County superintendent of schools, said schools play a pivotal role in the well-being of their communities.
“I think as a community agency we … have a responsibility to make sure people are safe, and we have the element of being able to provide them meals and nutrition,” he said.
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Listen to WVPB's Liz McCormick reporting from the Eastern Panhandle.
Specific lists for pick up locations in all eight of the Eastern Panhandle counties are posted on county board websites, can be found via social media or by calling their county education board.
‘We Are Ready’
Across the state, there are also grassroots efforts bubbling up to make sure kids don’t go hungry.
Several Facebook groups have formed to help coordinate these efforts and connect volunteers, faith leaders, bus drivers, school cafeteria workers and local chefs. One group, called WV Food ER, began with two people, but in the past several days, the group has evolved into an effort by more than 2,000 people to assist local school systems ensure that children are being fed.
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Listen to reporter Roxy Todd.
“Bus drivers and school service personnel are like all about this,” said Elizabeth Brunello, one of the coordinators of the group. “They see their responsibility to just step forward and it’s pretty amazing to see.”
She said in rural areas, it can be challenging to ensure food is being delivered to children in need.
Communities across the Southern Coalfields know this challenge well. Many have come together to work it out, and many say, this is nothing new.
Credit McDowell County Schools Facebook
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Welch Elementary School Principal Dr. Kristy East out delivering food to families this week.
“Well, let me tell you, this is McDowell County. We stay in disaster mode every day. So you know, we’re, we are ready,” said Linda McKinney who runs McDowell County’s Five Loaves and Two Fishes food pantry.
McKinney typically serves 1,200 people a month and expects that number to go up. In two days, 76 families requested food, which she said averages to about 500 people. To avoid large gatherings, she is having people pick up food by appointment only.
But getting that food down to the region is not necessarily easy with businesses shutting down and people being advised to stay home. This is where the National Guard comes in. Major Holli Nelson said the guard is collaborating with the West Virginia Department of Education to streamline food distribution throughout the state, but especially to the southern part of the state.
“We are very rural in how our population lives,” Nelson said. “We have a lot of mountains that we have to deal with. There’s connectivity issues, getting the word out of how to best push the information out to those who need it most.”
The Department of Education is also directly collaborating with staff in the coalfields to identify areas of high need, as options like bussing food to kids can be uniquely challenging in the southern region, according to Amanda Harrison, executive director of the Office of Child Nutrition.
“Late last week, our state experienced flooding in certain locations, and so we have to consider safety in terms of routes that are being taken,” she said.
There are also examples of people providing food on a very local level, not in an official state-directed capacity.
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Caitlin Tan reports from the Southern Coalfields.
That includes Spencer’s Catering and Carry-out, also in McDowell County. It is a mom and daughter-owned business that is usually open Friday and Saturday. But this week, manager Ashley Spencer said they provided lunch and home food deliveries Monday and Tuesday, adding that more than 50 kids came in to eat on Monday.
“Their meals at school are the only meals they have, so I definitely wanted to make sure Monday we were ready to go, because they had the weekend and a lot of them didn’t have food,” Spencer said.
In Boone County, Mick Frye, senior pastor of the Fountain of Life Worship Center, said they are providing a free hot lunch for kids and families, no questions asked.
“Spaghetti, we got string cheese, a little bit of yogurt, some carrots and then also, you know, some ice cream, something like that, just something kids like,” Frye said.
Credit Roxy Todd / WVPB
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WVPB
The church has a bus ministry that provides free transportation to church service and Frye said that is helping them reach out to families who they know need food right now.
He said he is quite hopeful that kids will get fed in the Southern Coalfields.
“You know, we know poverty, and people have always been willing to reach out and even when times were rough, you know, West Virginia and southern West Virginians have always known how to get through those things because we just come together and help each other,” Frye said.
So although coronavirus is a very new type of crisis to hit the region, many southern West Virginians said this is nothing new, that the resiliency of the communities will help see them through this pandemic and maybe they can even be a model, again, for other communities throughout the country.
This story is part of West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Southern Coalfields Reporting Project which is supported by a grant from the National Coal Heritage Area Authority.
Shepherd University is partnering with Berkeley County Schools and the Martinsburg Police Department to help combat opioid addiction. A new initiative hopes to identify basic causes of drug abuse in at-risk families.
It’s called The Martinsburg Initiative. It’s based on a Centers for Disease Control study that shows when children have adverse childhood experiences, like exposure to drugs and alcohol, it can have a major impact on their physical and mental developmental health.
The Martinsburg Police Department and Berkeley County Schools are piloting the program at two elementary schools in Martinsburg.
Shepherd University will provide technical services and volunteers via faculty, staff, and students from several departments. Shepherd will also create an objective assessment study instrument and evaluation mechanism that will be used to monitor the program’s effectiveness.
Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Benedum Foundation.
