Jan 11 2023
That report is listed below.
Here's the way it worked. Clayberry School Superintendent Joan Haynie and four of the five local school boardsters attended the public meeting in Charleston. The report findings and discussions on County Clay took 42 minutes to complete. From the delegation, only Ms Haynie spoke to the State leaders.
Down in Charleston meetings are little different. They don't yell and point fingers for instance. Another thing, they actually follow Open Meeting Laws to the T. Like, when they're going into secret time, they actually tell you what they are going to discuss as the law require.
OK, enough with that.
The presenter lady used a PA mic so you could hear her but, she clipped along pretty quick. So quick, we barely had time to write down just the highlights. As a matter of fact, we only scribbled down the stuff that made our ears perk up. That's what we're including in this article.
First our well known shortcomings: there's a lack of internet in Clayberry which really set us back during the main COVID pandemic years... many families are leaving... too many single parent families hurt us too ... there are food insecurities ... our college rate, tech training, community participation rates have dropped from 51% to 31% (I think that was 31%).
The presenter used the below report but, when she was on the mic, she added stuff on a more common worded English translation. Like, over at Clay Middle, the achievement rate sucks for dead air. According to her, it sure sounded like the CHS teachers were doing little to make the students work and learn. Examples included: the teachers were doing the reading out loud instead of the brats pulling their weight and videos were taking up a bunch of time. And and, we think this one is important: "They are not delivering West Virginia standards!"
Know what they're talking about? The Suits in Charleston put out a educational game plan and administrators and teachers are suppose to follow that road map. At CMS, it ain't happening
And, of the 55 classes the investigators eyeballed, only 5 were actually engaging the students and getting them to participate. That sounds pretty bad!
And then came word: They are co-mingling funds. That phrase was heard three times during the meeting. That's sounds pretty bad. Gulp!
Two things up front. Excess Levy accounts are being used to pay utility bills and that's a no no. Also, to make things look healthier, 16 positions are paid out of a ESSERF account which is only available for a short period of time. That raised some hackles too
About that paying electric bills on credit, that never works. It's a sure sign of looming problems and our Old Superintendent was the guy at the helm.
"Someone has to mind the store ... Spending money you don't have.." The folks up front were saying, with the Excess Levy shot down, the local system is spending $$$ they no longer have.
Switching to that failing Levy... teachers and other personnel were asked, why did the Levy fail twice? Answers from local personnel included: there is a lack of trust; the community felt they didn't need the extra money; the free COVID funds are not used; they don't trust the former Superintendent ole what's his name; and they were going to close H E White anyway.
On that 60 student H E White Grade School, Yes, that school IS being talked about for closure. Ms Haynie: those students could be easily housed at Clay Elem. Gulp!
Superintendent Haynie stood and gave a local perspective on edumacation in County Clay. Some of her comments: We commend the review team... they were highly professional... this helped strengthen Clay ...there are no excuses for this ,... Educational standards will be followed! .. we will use your framework.....
we will support our principles... we will monitor data and progress ... our litmus test is what's best for the kids ... we are dedicated in the central office ... we have gifted educators and service personnel ... We welcome the review team coming back.
Discussion turned to our declining population and and a county wide school enrollment decline.
The overall message from the State Board: We want to help you, to support you. Translation: there will be fewer dollars coming from Charleston in the future... now actually.
References were made on how Levy funds had been twisted around and accessed. Concerns were also raised on how the call for the Levy was worded. "The Levy Call troubles us"
As for spending more money than you got, there ten professional poaitions more than allowed by State funding formula. After playing our recording back several times, we think they said, there are also 10 too many service personnel on the books. For those that don't understand, that's a nice way of saying, 20 employees will be laid off or maybe maybe, if several retire or quit the system, fewer may have to be let go this year.
There was something real troubling mentioned.
From up front, beaming with pride, the front table said we were were lucky to have a Jerry Linkypoo and the Somber Super, Larry Gillespie, working at the Pentagon as mentors. That's a prime example of how any investigation can come up short.
And our Biggy
On several occasions, Ole What's His Name Paxton was referenced. They put the monkey on Paxton's back for the many shortcomings and our failing school system. Whether co-mingling the books, not giving guidance to school principals, questionable use of Levy funds, watching as scores test scores kept falling and falling... it all comes back to our often used phrase, you got to cut off the head of the snake to kill it. On Nov 2nd, the new School Board made a tough decision to cut off that snake's head.
Also, go down and read page 5 where Pentagon workers told the team, they were asked by the former Superintendent to fudge forms on performance and such.
Keep reading page 5, go on down. Real concerns were made that Ole What's His Name Paxton was signing off on his wife's employee evaluation forms contrary to Ethics Commission opinions. Mrs Paxton is the principal at the also failing Clay Elem School.
Most of us in the County know the Pentagon is overflowing with personnel. Page 6 of the report asks for changes at the Pentagon, re aligning employees for instance, to better you them.
And finally, each profession knows how to come up with words. Words that sound good but mean little if anything. They know the system and come up with those right words, stuff like "making gains in reading..". But, this investigation were not at their first rodeo. Look at page 6 where the Sherlocks read those coverup words but found NO concrete improvement plan. Nothing.
And to address our pet peeve on elected officials jumping behind closed doors, secret time, at the drop of a hat and without reasonable specificity given the public. Page 8 provides considerable space to address that issue and a corrective action.
You can read the rest of the report. It is truly damning to the old Pentagon leadership.
It is this reporter's belief, had the local Sch Bd NOT tossed the Super off the island and if Ms Haynie didn't make immediate changes as soon as she was hired as interim Superintendent, the Clay School System would now be under the control of the State Board of Education. Thanks Phoebe, Brooke, Lo and Joan.
Parents, we can guarantee improvements at at each of our local schools and real soon. Great!
AW
UPDATE
We added the Charleston Gazette / Mail coverage of
the investigation of Clay County schools and
administration. That's in its entirety just below. Make
notice of how that prize winning, state wide publication
makes great mention of Ole what's his name Paxton, finger
pointing.
In November 2022, a Special Circumstance
Review of Clay County Schools was initiated. According to
its subsequent
report, concerning factors included two levy failures in
quick succession,
declines in student performance, overuse of executive
sessions during public
meetings, and declining year-to-year carryover numbers
reflected in the school
system’s budget.
The
review found a non-compliance by central
office leadership as it pertained to not being “visibly
present in the building
assuring the West Virginia College and Career Readiness
Content Standards were
being delivered in a rigorous [active] manner,” not
properly evaluating central
office staff and failing to provide standards-based
instruction under principal
leadership.
Former
Clay County Schools Superintendent Joe
Paxton left his position in November 2022 after reaching a
“mutual agreement”
with the Clay County Board of Education. State Department
of Education Office
of Support and Accountability senior officer Charlene
Coburn said interim
superintendent Joan Haynie had already worked to establish
a leadership team by
the time their review started. Haynie is currently working
with school
administrators to develop more systematic review processes
and lines of
communication regarding instructional strategies and
achievement data.
While
praising elements of the school
system’s administrative team and indicating the district
had “a good
foundation” but had been “held back” by former leadership,
Coburn recommended
Clay County Board of Education members, largely new,
receive training on
function and importance of their roles; avoid the practice
of including regular
utility costs on levy calls; and work in financial
planning collaboration with
the Office of Support and Accountability.
“We feel
like they have a foundation, but
they need some support and we would like to partner with
them from our office
and assist with support in providing evidence-based
instruction strategies and
providing the college and career readiness standards,”
Coburn said.
Blame
was largely at the feet of former
leadership.
“It was
evident to the team that there was
minimal support from the central office in prior years and
this has contributed
to the trajectory of downward academic process that we
have been seeing in Clay
County,” Coburn said. “That’s not always been the case.”
The
report also strongly cautioned the school
system to address 16 positions it has funded via finite
Elementary and
Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund dollars, a notion
the state board
characterized as a statewide issue among schools.
“We want
to provide them with extreme caution
at this point,” Coburn said. “It’s going to be crucial
that they take a look at
those positions and determine whether or not they can
afford to keep those
positions or do they need to look at a reduction in
force.”
Haynie
accepted the report’s findings.
“We must
reject excuses and purpose in our
hearts to deliver a first-class education to our
students.” Haynie said.
Reach
Josh Ewers at joshewers@hdmediallc.com
or
304-348-1723.