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Wood County BOE hires middle school principals

Wood County Board of Education Vice President Rick Tennant led Thursday’s special meeting where members unanimously approved the hiring of new principals at Jackson and Edison middle schools. (Photo by Michael Erb)

PARKERSBURG — The Wood County Board of Education hired two new principals during a special session Thursday morning.

The board unanimously hired Jeff Kisner, assistant principal at Parkersburg High School, as principal of Jackson Middle School, and Janet Sears, assistant principal at Edison Middle School, as principal at Edison. Both hires are effective immediately and are 261-day contracts.

The two replace Jackson Principal Richard Summers and Edison Principal Jean Mewshaw, both of whom are retiring.

Several board members praised Sears, saying she’d been a longtime and well-respected educator in Wood County.

“I’ve gotten a couple of phone calls from people all with people in support of Janet Sears for the job,” said board President Rick Olcott, who joined the meeting via conference call. “All I’ve gotten are positive comments.”

“I’ve worked with her before. She does a good job,” said board Vice President Rick Tennant, who oversaw Thursday’s meeting.

Neither Sears nor Kisner attended Thursday’s meeting.

In other business, multiple policies remained on public comment and are expected to be brought for discussion and possible approval at the board’s next meeting. A motion to approve a 2019-20 meetings calendar was moved from Thursday’s agenda to the board’s meeting on Tuesday.

The board is expected to schedule some additional special meetings to approve personnel changes in the weeks leading up to the start of the 2019-20 school year, which begins for students Aug. 15.

No executive session was held on Thursday and no citizens spoke during the public comments portion of the meeting.

Michael Erb can be reached at merb@newsandsentinel.com

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