"Everything is Beautiful"
Clay
County's Board of Edumacation held their Oct 17th meeting at
Clay County High School. With all Boardsters present, the gathering
got underway at 6pm. The last four Board meetings have
rotated to each local school in the lead up to the school
system's Excess Levy vote coming Nov 8th during the General
Election.
Under the direction from Superintendent Joe Paxton, each meeting was designed to draw in a captivated audience (parents, guardians etc) and then provide a pep talk in support of passing a new $2.5 million Excess Levy. That idea worked at the various grade schools where came in droves to see their wittle darlings. Not so at Clay High....
Under the direction from Superintendent Joe Paxton, each meeting was designed to draw in a captivated audience (parents, guardians etc) and then provide a pep talk in support of passing a new $2.5 million Excess Levy. That idea worked at the various grade schools where came in droves to see their wittle darlings. Not so at Clay High....
For this
dog and pony show, we didn't see a parent one. School leaders
and a few non voting age kids were in attendance. Instead of
fleecing wallets for a little more, the promoter, that's
Mercedes Paxton, was pretty much talking to himself during his
15 minute spiel.
The meeting was held in what use to be the school library. See pic above. For this year, the days of books and a librarian to guide a kid, that's all gone. In it's place is an area to hang out and play on personal electronic devices. Even the name changed. Instead of calling the large room a library, it's now the Panther Den.
The meeting was held in what use to be the school library. See pic above. For this year, the days of books and a librarian to guide a kid, that's all gone. In it's place is an area to hang out and play on personal electronic devices. Even the name changed. Instead of calling the large room a library, it's now the Panther Den.
Superintendent Paxton begging for passage of the Excess Levy
CCHS
Principal Alan Tanner (above) going over the new and improved
Clay High offerings. During his oratory, he mentioned, back
when that room was a true library, not one book had been
checked out for the last several years. What he didn't mention
was, during the last few years, the high school did not have a
Librarian on site and thus, no one to guide students toward
age appropriate books of interest.
If you didn't know, school board meetings are now streamed in real time and then archived on the Clay County Schools website. If you're interested in the nuts and bolts of public meetings, you can watch it for yourself via the web.
If you didn't know, school board meetings are now streamed in real time and then archived on the Clay County Schools website. If you're interested in the nuts and bolts of public meetings, you can watch it for yourself via the web.
We're going to
provide the meat and potatoes of what's really going. Here
goes
Let's get this out of the way right off the bat.
Clay High, after its gazillion dollar renovation, the place is looking new. On the surface, the fresh paint and overhead lights, the place looks as good as any new prison in the state. Buried deeper, we think even the electrical and HVAC have been improved. The problem is, there are no statistics that prove a kid gets a better education in a high tech school than say, in a one room school.
For this meeting, all the side bar services were highlighted. They've got someone paid to do everything from holding hands to wiping noses. There's even a dog on hand for petting when things go sour.
What was NEVER mentioned, not one time was, education. Not a peep on test scores nor show casing educational performance. Zero Ningundo!
There's a reason for that and for each of the other county schools. Truth is, in spite of lots of new taxpayer paid for purchases, Clayberry students performed poorly, real bad, worser than EVER before. . Actually our school system under the leadership of Joe Paxton, has settled to the bottom, fourth worst in West Virginia.
No no no, Don't say, that's because of COVID during the last two years. Wrong O.
All schools in the state (nation actually) were subjected to the same off days and online teaching problems. All schools are on the same playing field, flat even.
Some parents have been duped into believing their ward has been getting a quality education. The Pentagon is very good at artfully wording their high praises.Those folks are wrong. Your kids are woefully lacking in every subject area. That dismal educational performance will start showing thru as the CCHS seniors head off to college, trade school, enter the work force and or welfare lines.
There's also the issue of: do you have confidence in how the Pentagon is spending those millions?
So compromised is the system leadership, the normal voting polls were moved out of area schools last Spring. Reason? To make an effort to reduce voter intimidation. Also, the school system made it tougher to get and keep poll workers due to intimidation of those tried and try long time, poll workers.
Team Paxton has produced some lovely, colorful brochures and trinkets to enhance attitudes for passing the Levy. The artfully worded passages are devoid of ANY specifics.
Like, what percentage of $2.5 million will be used for classroom education versus what will be used for athletics. Sure seems like when test scores are so embarrassingly low, improving those scores should take priority.
Sometime during, after, the Board meeting, Principal Allan Tanner asked about our reporting and saying something good about Clay High.
OK.. here goes... Clay High is a beautiful place loaded with paid personnel to cater to every whim imaginable.
On the other hand, with current Pentagon leadership in place and their demand for even more tax dollars, sure seems like, actually teaching the basics of reading writing and math should come front and center. That ain't happening.
It's time to cut off the head of the snake and start over for a better future.
Let's get this out of the way right off the bat.
Clay High, after its gazillion dollar renovation, the place is looking new. On the surface, the fresh paint and overhead lights, the place looks as good as any new prison in the state. Buried deeper, we think even the electrical and HVAC have been improved. The problem is, there are no statistics that prove a kid gets a better education in a high tech school than say, in a one room school.
For this meeting, all the side bar services were highlighted. They've got someone paid to do everything from holding hands to wiping noses. There's even a dog on hand for petting when things go sour.
What was NEVER mentioned, not one time was, education. Not a peep on test scores nor show casing educational performance. Zero Ningundo!
There's a reason for that and for each of the other county schools. Truth is, in spite of lots of new taxpayer paid for purchases, Clayberry students performed poorly, real bad, worser than EVER before. . Actually our school system under the leadership of Joe Paxton, has settled to the bottom, fourth worst in West Virginia.
No no no, Don't say, that's because of COVID during the last two years. Wrong O.
All schools in the state (nation actually) were subjected to the same off days and online teaching problems. All schools are on the same playing field, flat even.
Some parents have been duped into believing their ward has been getting a quality education. The Pentagon is very good at artfully wording their high praises.Those folks are wrong. Your kids are woefully lacking in every subject area. That dismal educational performance will start showing thru as the CCHS seniors head off to college, trade school, enter the work force and or welfare lines.
There's also the issue of: do you have confidence in how the Pentagon is spending those millions?
So compromised is the system leadership, the normal voting polls were moved out of area schools last Spring. Reason? To make an effort to reduce voter intimidation. Also, the school system made it tougher to get and keep poll workers due to intimidation of those tried and try long time, poll workers.
Team Paxton has produced some lovely, colorful brochures and trinkets to enhance attitudes for passing the Levy. The artfully worded passages are devoid of ANY specifics.
Like, what percentage of $2.5 million will be used for classroom education versus what will be used for athletics. Sure seems like when test scores are so embarrassingly low, improving those scores should take priority.
Sometime during, after, the Board meeting, Principal Allan Tanner asked about our reporting and saying something good about Clay High.
OK.. here goes... Clay High is a beautiful place loaded with paid personnel to cater to every whim imaginable.
On the other hand, with current Pentagon leadership in place and their demand for even more tax dollars, sure seems like, actually teaching the basics of reading writing and math should come front and center. That ain't happening.
It's time to cut off the head of the snake and start over for a better future.
Future leaders at attention
Bob Morris (above right) was first in line for the free vittles.
That's Sammy the wonder dog getting a toy pried out of his mouth
AW