State Board of Education Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

W. Va. House Rejects School Year Calendar Bill

The West Virginia House of Delegates very narrowly rejected a bill to create a statewide school calendar starting after Labor Day and ending before June 7.

The vote followed a lengthy debate on whether House Bill 2433 interferes with a county’s ability to establish a school schedule that takes into account snow days, holidays and — yes — deer hunting season.

According to Education Committee Chair Del. Joe Ellington, R-Mercer, counties would be able to request a waiver for this calendar requirement, if the bill becomes law.

“State board may waive the requirements of the section upon request of a county board, and state board rule is required for the approval process,” Ellington said before Wednesday’s vote.

Some delegates who opposed the bill questioned how easy it would be to obtain a waiver.

“I think that the current system we have now where the school boards get to choose their days works great,” said Del. Carl Martin, R-Upshur. The schools around him, he said, start the second week of August.

Del. Paul Espinosa, R-Jefferson, spoke on Tuesday about “concerns that have been raised by the NRA,” or the National Rifle Association.

Espinosa directed delegates to look at a letter on their desks provided by the NRA’s “Institute for Legislative Action.” The document accused House Bill 2433 of imposing a “one-size-fits-all calendar on all schools in West Virginia.”

The NRA’s largest concern, shared through Espinosa, is that the bill would have run the risk of eliminating some school’s ability to grant their students a week off for deer hunting season.

Del. Cody Thompson, D-Randolph, said Tuesday he’s an advocate for the Second Amendment, yet he disagreed with Espinosa’s remarks.

“I’m a proponent of the Second Amendment,” Thompson said. “I own guns. I come from a long family of hunters. My dad and my uncles and my grandfathers, we’ve been generational hunters. The NRA, though, does not need to be dictating educational policy.”

Del. Caleb Hanna, R-Nicholas, said Wednesday he supported the bill because it would offer school staff and families a more secure schedule.

“To really say that we’re taking flexibility away from the counties, I really don’t think is fair,” Hanna said. “I think what we’re really doing is giving surety to our teachers, parents and students that they’ll know exactly when school will be every year.”

Del. Scott Cadle, R-Mason disagreed.

“About four years ago, we passed legislation to let the counties set their own schedule, because we had counties that had a lot of snow days,” he said on the House floor. “And they weren’t getting enough school days, so we gave them flexibility to do whatever they needed to do to get the 180 days in a calendar year … this bill would take their ability away, to do that.”

Del. John Kelly, R-Wood, was the lead sponsor on House Bill 2433. He said in his own testimony some county boards of education have “abused” the flexibility Cadle mentioned.

Kelly also said the bill would provide teachers more time to advance their degrees, e families more time to plan summer activities, allow teachers a chance to work a part-time job over the summer to supplement their income and allow students to take a part-time job over the summer.

“It would also reduce the need for families to take vacations after the start of the school year, and thus would reduce absenteeism,” Kelly said of the failed bill.

This was the first bill the House has rejected on the floor this session.

Note: The first paragraph originally read “create a statewide school calendar starting after Labor Day and ending before Jan 7”. It was update to the correct ending date, June 7.

Dispute Resolution Sought in West Virginia School Plan

The state education board says a dispute resolution company out of Massachusetts will come to West Virginia on Monday to find a solution to the dispute over Nicholas County’s plan to consolidate schools into a single campus following flood damage.

State Superintendent Steven Paine tells the Beckley Register-Herald that the company will interview those involved and return in December with recommendations.

State Board of Education President Thomas Campbell says dispute resolution is standard for the Federal Emergency Management Agency in situations like this one.

The state board rejected Nicholas County’s consolidation plan. Paine said Gov. Jim Justice sponsored the resolution process to be fair to everyone involved after West Virginia’s Supreme Court ruled the state board has the constitutional authority to accept or reject the county plan.

Cedar Lakes Bill Back on Lawmakers' Desks

A small conference center and campground in Jackson County has stirred up plenty of controversy at the statehouse over the past few years.

Members of the West Virginia Board of Education want to get rid of their authority of the Cedar Lakes Conference Center, but state officials aren’t willing to pay the cost to let it go.

This year, lawmakers believe they’ve found a compromise that let’s the board off the hook while keeping Cedar Lakes open for the thousands of kids who attend camps there each year.

House Bill 4351 would transfer the Cedar Lakes Camp and Conference Center from the control of the state Board of Education to the Department of Agriculture. In the House Agriculture Committee Tuesday, the bill was passed out with no debate, but in previous years, things haven’t gone so smoothly.

Cedar Lakes is a 228-acre campground and conference center that’s been around since 1949. It’s used for a variety of things from hiking and fishing to a meeting place for groups like the 4-H.

Since the site was established, it has been supported by the state Board of Education, however, after a 2010 audit, the board found the conference center was costing the state Department of Education more money than it was bringing in and wanted to get rid of it.

Delegate Steve Westfall of Jackson County is the sponsor of House Bill 4351. Cedar Lakes is in his district and two years ago, he attempted to convince the board to keep the conference center open.

“Senator Carmichael and myself went to the State Board of Education and proposed a five year plan to keep it open and to eventually move it from the control of the Education Department,” Westfall said.

The 2015 bill attempted to make Cedar Lakes a non-profit, but it was vetoed. In the governor’s veto message, he said he supported transferring the Cedar Lakes Camp into its own foundation, however, the transfer would create an unexpected increase in separation costs resulting in substantial burden for the taxpayer.

Cedar Lakes employees are all considered state employees and when state workers leave public employment, West Virginia must pay them a separation package. That package includes a dollar amount for their built up vacation time, among other things.

“There’s only about 22, 23 employees at Cedar Lakes, but some of them have been there for 35 years or more, so my intent all along was to protect employees but to protect Cedar Lakes also.”

This year’s bill finds a compromise between the two. It would transfer Cedar Lakes Camp over to the Department of Agriculture, keeping it within the state’s control. Westfall says he thinks the governor will approve it.

“The governor has looked at it, and I think the governor’s okay with it. He doesn’t want to close it either. He’s been to facility and stuff, so it’s great. I think it’s, sometimes you wonder why things happen with the veto of the bill last year, but I think now it’s actually gonna be better for Cedar Lakes.”

House Bill 4351 now moves to the House Education Committee for further consideration.

Ethics Panel Dismisses Complaint on School Board President

A West Virginia Ethics Commission panel has dismissed an ethics complaint filed against the state’s board of education president.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports board president Mike Green said he received a notice that the Probable Cause Review Board found no reason to continue with an investigation.

Board of education member Bill White filed the complaint last month, accusing the president of violations of open meeting laws. He says a board member handbook the board approved in October was formed outside of required open meetings. He adds that the handbook wasn’t properly filed with the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability and contains illegal language.

White says he is now considering filing a lawsuit against Green.

Green says the issue is water under the bridge.

Board Wants Lawsuit Tossed by Fired W.Va. Education Chief

The state Board of Education is seeking the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by former West Virginia Superintendent of Schools Jorea Marple.

Marple was fired in November 2012. She contends in her lawsuit that she unlawfully fired and that members of the Board of Education secretly plotted to dismiss her, violating the state’s open meetings law.

The State Journal reports that attorneys for the board asked Kanawha County Circuit Judge James C. Stucky to dismiss the lawsuit.

The board’s attorneys contend the panel is a state agency and immune from prosecution.

They also stated that Marple was not under contract at the time of her firing.

New Policy Requires A Through F Grade for West Virginia Schools

Parents across the state may soon have a better understanding of how their child’s school is fairing thanks to a new grading system adopted Monday by the state Board of Education.

The change comes after a directive from Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin during his State of the State Address in January. In his address, he specifically called on the board to implement and A through F grading scale.

Beginning July 1, schools will be ranked on that new grading scale, a practice some current board members think will make the process easier for parents to understand and also evoked more community participation.

“I think we all agree that one of the things that is needed is more community involvement in our schools,” said former Board President and current member Wade Linger, “and if nothing else this will signal which communities need to get involved the most the soonest.”

The grades themselves are based on student achievement and school quality and include a list of criteria including proficiency rates, observed growth and graduation rates for high schools.

Not all board members agreed with the new practice, however. Dr. William White was the only nay vote on the measure.

“I have a problem with labeling schools in a way that creates a very negative impact on that whole community,” White said.

“It doesn’t just impact the school, it also impacts the neighborhood, housing values, recruitment could be a major issue. So, those are some much deeper issues that we have to deal with.”

Along with the new school evaluation system, the state board will also implement a new county school system approval method. Under the new system, individual school scores will be added up to show the county’s overall health.

The newly approved policy also sets out intervention methods for low performing schools, an appeal process for schools who disagree with their evaluations, and awards and recognitions for schools who consistently achieve.