Public Education Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

WVU Supports Early Literacy Projects Across The State

Funding from West Virginia University for early literacy programs will help students across the state who are learning how to read.

The West Virginia Public Education Collaborative, housed at WVU, is investing more than $260,000 in six new statewide literacy projects through its Sparking Early Literacy Growth program.

They include Building Literacy through Museum Engagement at the Huntington Children’s Museum, as well as research into Play-Based Strategies at the June Harless Center for Rural Educational Research and Development at Marshall University.

The projects are supported by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation and the EQT Foundation.

Organizers hope the projects will build on improvements stemming from the Third Grade Success Act to support childhood literacy.

In the 2023-24 statewide English language arts assessment scores, 47 percent of West Virginia third graders scored at the reading proficiency level, a 7 percent improvement year to year.

ACLU Launches Online Tool To Report Religious Teaching In Public Schools

On Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia launched an online tool for residents to report religious content being taught in public schools.

A new law that took effect in June could expand how West Virginia teachers respond to questions on the origin of life.

But the state’s American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) chapter worries this could encroach upon students’ religious freedoms. With a new school year beginning for most West Virginia students this month, the organization has launched a new online tool for students, parents and guardians to report religious content being taught in public school classrooms.

Earlier this year, the West Virginia Legislature passed Senate Bill 280, which states that school and government officials cannot prohibit teachers “from responding to student inquiries or answering questions from students about scientific theories of how the universe and/ or life came to exist.”

An earlier draft of the bill explicitly sought to give teachers permission to “teach intelligent design as a theory.” Intelligent design theory states that life was created by a higher power, which overlaps with Christian belief in the existence of God.

But in a Friday press release, the ACLU of West Virginia said the initial draft of the bill was in conflict with a 2005 ruling from Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, which found that intelligent design was not rooted in science. The ruling declared the theory could not be taught in public school classrooms because it therefore violated students’ constitutional right to religious freedom.

Any reference to intelligence design was struck from the bill’s final version. But the ACLU said this makes the purpose behind the new law, as well as its potential applications, hazy.

“It’s entirely unclear what exactly the final version of this bill seeks to permit, because it was already lawful for teachers to answer questions about scientific theories,” ACLU Legal Director Aubrey Sparks said in the press release. “What is clear, however, is the constitutional right to freedom of religion. The state may not push specific religious viewpoints onto students, period.”

Sparks said that the ACLU worries teachers might think the law grants them freedom to portray their religious views as science during class. This concern led the ACLU to launch the new online tool, where residents can report their concerns to the organization’s legal team.

The legal team will monitor the situation and review all submissions as the school year continues, Sparks said.

To access the new online tool, visit the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia website.

The ‘Toxic Stew’ Of School Discipline

In schools across the nation, when students of color misbehave, they are disciplined at twice the rate of white students. That means Black and brown students are more likely to face suspension or expulsion. West Virginia lawmakers worry students are not facing the right consequences for their misbehavior. A new state law is designed to make schools safer. In this episode, Us & Them host Trey Kay looks at new approaches to school discipline.

Across the nation, students of color and those from poor families are more likely to be suspended from school, and data from West Virginia reflects this national trend.

In fact, research shows when a teacher thinks a student of color is misbehaving on purpose, they’re more likely to get suspended or expelled. Missing just two days of school each month makes a student less likely to graduate, which has a big impact on their prospects for the future.

On this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay looks at discipline disparities in our schools – a new West Virginia law designed to get tough on misbehaving students – and the way one alternative Kanawha County school gives students the support to recover.

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council, the Daywood Foundation and the CRC Foundation.

Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond.

Teacher Ash Setterstrom, counselor Billie Walker and principal Wayman Wilson are part of the staff at the Chandler Academy in Charleston, WV. Chandler is for students who’ve been expelled or removed from one of Kanawha County’s eight high schools or 13 middle schools. Chandler’s goal is to get students stabilized and send them back to their home schools, but often that system turns out to be a vicious cycle. Most of the students at Chandler come from low-income families, and about a quarter are Black. Some struggle with mental illness while others have been stigmatized after being expelled from their home school, and almost all of them struggle with low self-esteem. *Credit: Ash Setterstrom*

Ash Setterstrom has taught history at the Chandler Academy in Charleston, WV for six years. She finds it rewarding to work with students who have discipline problems because she was one of them. When she was a student in the Kanawha County School system, she says she hated authority and loved getting suspended. She spent her middle school years — the late 90s — at an alternative learning center like Chandler. *Credit: Ash Setterstrom*

Most of the people who work at the Chandler Academy in Charleston, WV have been there for a long time. They are passionate about what they do. Counselor Billie Walker has been at Chandler for 33 years. *Credit: Ash Setterstrom*

Community members showed up to a school board meeting in St. Paul, MN in February 2023. Many expressed concerns about safety days after a student was stabbed to death in one of the local high schools. *Credit: Matt Sepic/MPR News*

Eric Sloan spoke during a special listening session of a school board meeting in St. Paul, MN in February 2023. The board welcomed speakers to comment on school safety and to share ideas to make St. Paul Public Schools safer after a student was stabbed to death at a local high school days before. *Credit: John Autey/Pioneer Press*

Jayanti Owens is an assistant professor of organizational behavior at the Yale School of Management. She’s a sociologist who works on issues of race and inequality in school systems. She works with school districts nationwide on a study to gauge how race affects the response to school behavior.

Schools or districts interested in being involved with the work Dr. Owens is doing to help reduce racial/ethnic disparities in discipline can email to learn more: jayanti.owens@yale.edu

Here’s a link to her study, Double Jeopardy: Teacher Biases, Racialized Organizations, and the Production of Racial/Ethnic Disparities in School Discipline.

*Credit: Jayanti Owens*

Joe Ellington is a delegate from Mercer County, WV and is the current chair of the House Education Committee. In the 2023 session, Ellington co-authored a new state law to make school discipline more rigorous. He’s a practicing obstetrician and gynecologist. *Credit: West Virginia Legislature*

Matthew Watts, senior pastor of Grace Bible Church in Charleston, WV, is a longtime civil rights leader and no stranger to the West Virginia Legislature. He’s fought to close the wealth gap in housing, job training and economic development. He says that he is almost ready to retire, but this issue of school discipline is really important to him and that guilt plays a role. That’s because when he was working with Black kids more than 20 years ago, he did not believe it when they told him their discipline was different than that of white students. In 2015, Rev. Watts and others began paying attention to the reports coming out of academia and the U.S. Department of Education that documented racial disparities in school discipline. For years he tried to get data from West Virginia – and when he finally saw what was going on – he was appalled. *Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Kanawha County is the largest and most diverse school district in West Virginia. Tom Williams, superintendent of Kanawha County Schools, says the new legislation proposed by Del. Joe Ellington will help teachers teach. Williams is hopeful that the new law will give schools all over West Virginia the guardrails they’ve long needed to provide consistency along with flexibility. *Credit: Kanawha County Schools*

Career Technical Education Day At The Capitol Focused On Beginning Career Paths

Innovation met education on Career Technical Education Day at the West Virginia Legislature Friday.

From offering baked goods to analyzing biometrics, West Virginia students put on a 2023 vocational show.

You had to watch your step for all the robotic devices wheeling around the Capitol rotunda floor. More than 300 students from state high schools, comprehensive high schools and career technical education centers showcased their both practical and pioneering programs.

Deanna Canterbury-Penn, technical education coordinator for the West Virginia Department of Education, said the mission here is letting the lawmakers who decide on education funding see the career paths these students are pursuing for the jobs of today and tomorrow.

“Simulated workplaces are in every school for career technical education, so the students actually run companies in their prospective programs of study,” Canterbury-Penn said. “We want them to see that we are really making these kids’ careers and college ready to go out into the global workforce.”

What’s the difference between the shop and home economics classes of 25 years ago and what went on here today? The technological advances are obvious, but they say – don’t sell shop and home economics classes short.

“We have everything from robotics to aerospace engineering. It is a little bit different from the shop and home econ classes back when I was in school, but we still do those things with building construction and we have a lot of baking and pastry and ProStart,” Canterbury-Penn said. “They just really have enhanced the learning for the kids and really put them on the spot to do and be able to go out into the workforce to do these things.”

Enhancing the old and embracing the new, that’s what much of the day’s secondary education was all about, and was on display.

First Round Of Hope Scholarship Money Awarded To Students

The first round of Hope Scholarship money was awarded to families on Friday, following months of legal battles.

Nearly 1,800 students and their families received vouchers to cover educational expenses for non-public schools. Of that number, 1,610 were granted the full annual amount of nearly $4,298.60.

Other applicants are still waiting for their payments, including 466 that are waiting for inconsistencies in the West Virginia Education Informational System of when students transferred schools to be dealt with.

A remaining 619 have not had payments issued – a statement from the state treasurer’s office says these families haven’t responded to a questionnaire from Hope Scholarship Board staff asking about their child’s status. They believe most of these cases come from families that decided to keep their children in public schools during the injunction.

“I know the injunction and the uncertainty it caused created a tremendous hardship on families, and we appreciate the patience they have displayed as we continue to work through the litany of issues it produced,” state treasurer Riley Moore said in the release. Moore is also the chairman of the Hope Scholarship Board.

In total, nearly 3,000 families applied for Hope Scholarship funds before an injunction in Kanawha Circuit Court halted the program last May. It was lifted in October by the state’s Supreme Court of Appeals.

Advocates of the Hope Scholarship program call it a victory for school choice, while opponents say it’s taking away needed money from the state’s public school systems.

The period to apply for next school year’s round of Hope Scholarship funding begins March 1, with current applicants eligible to reapply on Feb. 15.

Judge Files Injunction Halting Hope Scholarship Program

Kanawha County Circuit Judge Joanna Tabit granted a temporary injunction, making the Hope Scholarship program null and void. She said the program undermines our already underfunded public school system.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Updated on July 6, 2022 at 1:33 P.M.

Updated on July 6, 2022 at 2:39 P.M.

Kanawha County Circuit Judge Joanna Tabit listened to arguments for just more than an hour from those in favor and those opposed to the state’s Hope Scholarship program and then made a quick and decisive ruling.

The West Virginia Legislature passed the Hope Scholarship program to provide money for students leaving the public school system. Those students could use the money for a variety of private financial costs. The state has approved more than 3,000 applications this year with students getting about $4,200 dollars each.

Plaintiffs said the so-called “voucher law” violates the state constitution by drawing needed funds from public schools. Those favoring the Hope Scholarship say the funding pays for schooling they feel best helps their children.

Tabit granted a temporary injunction, making the Hope Scholarship program null and void for now. She said the program undermines an already underfunded public school system and said disabled or specialized students can get the help they need in the public schools. She said the legislature violated its constitutional obligation by passing a statute that limits the ability to educate West Virginia public school students.

Tabit also sided with the West Virginia Department of Education’s argument that millions of dollars in Hope Scholarship funds incentivises people to leave the public schools, causing a reduction of students which will decrease funding for school teachers and all support staff.

Attorneys for those in support of the Hope Scholarship say they will appeal the ruling.

Plaintiff Wendy Peters filed the lawsuit challenging the Hope Scholarship. In the filing, the Raleigh County parent and teacher claimed the so-called “voucher law” violates the state constitution by diverting needed taxpayer funds from public to private education.

“The bottom line is the enrollment numbers will decrease which means that our money will decrease in the public schools,” Peters said. “A lot of times our most vulnerable children who have special needs like my son will not get the services that they need.”

The State Department of Education and school board joined with the plaintiffs. State Board of Education president Miller Hall called the decision a win for West Virginia students

“When you start taking money from the public schools and giving it out, it makes a major difference in how you educate and anything with the facilities and things of that nature,” Hall said.

Those favoring the Hope Scholarship said the funding pays for schooling they feel best helps their children.

Jamie Buckland’s son is a 5-year-old Hope Scholarship recipient. She said the about $4200 voucher offers funding for specialized education the state can’t provide.

“We believe that West Virginia has an obligation to provide opportunity for all of the students in West Virginia, not just those that are enrolled in a specific system,” Buckland said. “We believe that the funding should go towards the children’s education, not towards the public school system.”

Leah Peck is with the non-profit loveyourschoolwv.org. The organization assists families in applying for Hope Scholarship. She said the funding is not incentivising but an empowerment.

“The argument that with less funding public schools will do less, well they’ll have less children to take care of, too,” Peck said. “So maybe that individual attention which is what these kids also need will be better taken care of.”

Peck called Tabit’s halting of the Hope Scholarship program a momentary delay and said there will be steps forward to reinstate this voucher law.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said his office will appeal Tabit’s ruling of preliminary and permanent injunctive relief to the challengers of the Hope Scholarship Program.

“I am disappointed with this ruling,” Morrisey said. “We will appeal because this is an important law that provides parents greater freedom to choose how they educate their children. Our kids deserve the best educational options. We will fight for our kids and the hard working families of our state to retain this law and uphold its constitutionality.”

The West Virginia Senate’s Minority Caucus applauded today’s decision issued by Judge Tabit. They affirmed the caucus’ longstanding position that the Hope Scholarship program is unconstitutional.

In released statements, Sen. Mike Romano, D-Harrison, said the Hope Scholarship shows others we are a backward state.

“I stand by what I said last year: I’ve never heard of anybody moving to a state because they had great private schools,” Romano said. “They move to a state because they have great public education. Employers bring their business here because there are educated students coming out of the public school system that can then receive training and go to work for them. Nobody is going to come to West Virginia because we implement this program.”

Sen. Richard Lindsay, D-Kanawha, said choice is fine, but not at the risk of public education.

“The Hope voucher, left unchecked and unregulated, is extreme, unconstitutional and would ultimately lead to consolidation or closure of WV public schools,” Lindsay said. “We warned the supermajority of this in 2021 and attempted to amend common sense measures. Unfortunately, they would have none of it.”