Dr. James Phares Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

State BOE Names Temporary Superintendent

West Virginia Board of Education members unanimously approved a new schools chief who will take the post starting next week. On June 30, current Superintendent Dr. James Phares will retire, but the man filling his shoes is a familiar face to the department.

Board members voted to put current Deputy Superintendent Charles Heinlein in the position, with the understanding that when a new, ling-term chief is hired, he will return to his current job and current salary.

Until then, Heinlein will make the $165,000 year salary attached and wait out the replacement which Board President Gayle Manchin said Tuesday will happen in a “reasonable” amount of time.

Members spent more than eight hours Tuesday interviewing the three finalists for the position. Those finalists were chosen from a field 64 applicants in their nationwide search.

The state board has been criticized for not releasing any details about those finalists, but Manchin said they are all currently employed and the board promised them confidentiality so as to not jeopardize their positions.

“This is not uncommon under the search firm that we’re using,” she said. “I think in West Virginia it has been an oddity because it was never done that way before.”

The state board has scheduled their next meeting for July 1.

Heinlein will take his position that same day, but it’s not the first time he has stepped in as a short-term schools chief. Heinlein also served as superintendent for eight weeks in 2012 after Dr. Jorea Marple was fired in a surprise vote by the board. Phares was hired in November of that same year.

Editor’s Note: In the original audio of this story, we reported Heinlein served as superintendent in 2008. He in fact held the position in 2012, as we reported in the text, and the audio has now been updated to reflect that.

Four Recommendations to Improve Education from Retiring State Superintendent

West Virginia’s Superintendent of Schools Dr. James Phares announced his retirement in April, but last week, presented his final report to the state Board. In it, he recounted his accomplishments in leading the state’s education system forward, but also gave a warning about what work must continue in order to truly impact student achievement.

Some of the biggest accomplishments during his 18 month tenure included the passage and implementation of Senate Bill 359, the Governor’s Education Reform Act.

Among many provisions, the bill allowed counties to set their school calendar and gave teachers more of a say in hiring within their schools. Phares said he also worked with the governor and legislature to repeal 53 antiquated education statutes.

The one accomplishment that sticks out to some, however, was Phares’s ability to repurpose millions of dollars in state funds from the central Department of Education in Charleston out into the RESAs and counties, all while facing major budget cuts, allowing for more local control of the education process.

“What was hard was the process of people letting go of traditional ways that they had used that money in the past and so we have to change mindsets,” he said. “Changing mindsets and letting people go of traditional things, change in general, it’s always difficult.”

Phares ended his presentation with four recommendations to the eight-member board. They include:

Creating a unified message from the Department of Education and the state Board of Education to send to the schools and to the public about the future of education in the state.
Examine and review the capacity of the state department after budget cuts and losses of personnel to help aid the counties.
Create an office to focus on the middle grades, which should include a leader who is focused on professional development for teachers in those grades.
Find an alternative pathway, besides higher education, to help teachers become qualified as principals and administrators in their counties.

Phares final words of advice for his successor: go to the governor’s cabinet meetings. He said by building relationships with other cabinet secretaries during those meetings, he was able to collaborate and create a better education system.

The state board has completed its first round of interviews with 64 potential replacements. They are expected to choose finalists for the position before the end of the month followed by a public announcement of those candidates.

State BOE One Step Closer to Hiring New Superintendent

After nearly a year since beginning the process of a nationwide search, members of the West Virginia State Board of Education say they’re getting closer to their goal of finding a new state schools chief.

Consulting firm Ray and Associates, Inc., presented the board with 64 completed applications at their meeting at Stonewall Resort in Lewis County Thursday. The applicants represented 43 different states.

Current Superintendent Dr. James Phares took the position in December of 2012 shortly after the abrupt firing of Dr. Jorea Marple. At the time, Phares said he would only stay in the position for about 18 months. He announced his retirement, effective at the end of June, in early April.

During an executive session Thursday, board members began reviewing applications and narrowing down candidates. Board President Gayle Manchin said they did not complete the process during that session and will continue during their regularly scheduled board meeting in Charleston next week.

Manchin said they have not determined how many candidates will participate in the first round of interviews, but the applicants have asked that their privacy be protected initially.

“Many of these people have jobs and may or may not want their employer to know they have applied to leave,” Manchin said, “but once it gets down to the final two or three candidates, then it becomes public information and they have the right to know.”

Manchin added she was hopeful the board could begin conducting the initial interviews next week.

In total, the search firm reported 248 individuals engaged with them in some way about the soon to be open superintendent position. They attributed the interest to West Virginia’s size and location.

The board announced they had hired the firm the same day Phares announced his retirement. The contract totaled about $43,000.

“We were pleased with the quality, diversity and experience of the candidates,” Manchin said Thursday. “There’s no doubt in my mind [hiring the firm] was the best thing we could do.”

The state board will hold their next meeting in Charleston on Wednesday, June 11. Manchin said she hopes they can complete the interview process, choose finalists and hire a new superintendent by the end of the month.

Ex-Superintendent of W.Va. Schools Files Second Suit

West Virginia’s former state school superintendent has filed a second lawsuit contending she was unfairly fired.

Jorea Marple’s latest legal claim was filed this week in Kanawha County Circuit Court, according to media reports. A similar lawsuit is pending in federal court.

Marple was fired in November 2012. The lawsuits claim that she was unlawfully fired and that members of the Board of Education secretly plotted to oust her. She singles out former board president Wade Linger as a co-defendant in her latest filing.

The lawsuit seeks relief including for the loss of reputation among her peers, loss of ability to get another job of equal stature, and mental anguish.

Board members hired James Phares as superintendent in December 2012 to replace Marple.

W.Va. Schools Chief Looks Forward to Retirement

Retiring state schools Superintendent James Phares says he viewed his brief stint as an opportunity to help make a difference in West Virginia’s education system.

Phares is stepping down on June 30 after 18 months on the job. He says that was set long ago as the day he’d walk with his wife into retirement.

Phares was Randolph County’s schools superintendent when he was hired to replace the fired Jorea Marple.

His task was to help the state school board’s response to a sweeping audit that found the education system lagging in student achievement and weighed down by state-level staffers and policies made inflexible by laws.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, Phares says he hopes he helped “raise the bar” in the education system.

W.Va. Superintendent Announces Retirement as National Search Continues

State Board of Education members are now under even more pressure to complete their nationwide search for a new state superintendent of schools after Dr. James Phares announced Tuesday he would retire from that position in June.

In a short letter to state Board President Gayle Manchin, Phares cited pressing family issues and a desire to spend some time out of the public eye as reasons for retiring from his current position, as well as his 40 years of service in public education.

Phares was appointed to the position in November 2012 after then Superintendent Jorea Marple was ousted by a Board vote.

Manchin said she is thankful for the work Phares has done with the Board, but they will now press forward with their nationwide search to fill his position, with the hopes of having a replacement by his end date on June 30.

“We are looking for a strong person to really move West Virginia forward,” Manchin said, “to provide that vision as the educational leader that will motivate and inspire not only the educational arena, but parents and communities.”

Manchin said a state contract became effective Tuesday for national search firm Ray and Associates of Cedar Rapids, IA, who will begin recruiting candidates for the position.

The firm’s website says it specializes in education executive leadership searches and has been in the business of doing so since 1975.

Governor Tomblin mimicked Manchin’s sentiments, saying the state needs someone who can continue to push education reform with a focus on student achievement.