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PARKERSBURG -- High school principals and faculty addressed the Wood County Schools Board of Education on Monday outlining their programs of study and what they offer students in their schools.
The principals from Parkersburg and Parkersburg South high schools, and Williamstown Middle/High School made presentations, with some faculty, including several from Parkersburg South, discussing their programs for each department.
First up was Ken DeMoss of PHS, accompanied by school counselor Maggie Ohneck.
DeMoss talked about having an advisory period during the week, where some of the teachers will have class and some of them won't. Those teachers not physically having students in class will be doing distance learning. The idea, according to DeMoss, is to keep those not wanting to come to class engaged in the learning process.
Another thing DeMoss and Ohneck discussed was the nature of dual credit classes, where a student can receive both high school and college credit at the same time.
Ohneck then said that it would cost a student $25 to do a dual credit through West Virginia University, as opposed to $50 through WVU at Parkersburg.
An example of a dual credit course through WVU, Ohneck said, was the Sports in American Culture in the fall, and The Olympics in the spring.
She also said there is funding available for those who cannot afford to pay for the classes.
DeMoss then said that a new course being offered will be Financial Algebra. He said it will be a great class, but adding the word algebra to a class name will result in it falling on deaf ears.
Ohneck then discussed course offerings for next year, including cabinet making classes.
Betsy Patterson, the principal at PSHS, talked about students staying the course in math and how many credits should be taken.
She said those who are not going to stay the course in math should not take as many credits as those who are interested in pursuing math. She said if someone who's interested takes a math class, they are likely to take more.
"We're trying to capture as many kids as we can in multiple programs," Patterson said. "We have teachers who are willing to work together, even within the school, to make sure we capture as many activities as possible."
One of the activities Patterson mentioned were clubs that students could join depending on what they are interested in.
PSHS Math Department Chair and math teacher Jason Evans said, "we do something different at South. We try to find where to best meet the kids. We then visualize what we can do for them. So we provide a math recommendation for each student where we think each student can be successful."
He also said they create these recommendations to find out where a student is at in their math knowledge, and then figure out the next step for them in the learning process.
Evans said, "I do want to note that math is the least grade-level oriented class out there."
West Virginia requires four math credits for graduation, Evans said, and that may be the right number for a college-bound student, but for one who isn't, that amount of math could be overwhelming.
Next up were Jamie Moss and Susan Smith, co-chairs of the science department at PSHS.
Moss said science offerings include earth and space science for ninth-graders, biology for 10th-graders, and a variety of classes for 11th and 12th graders can take electives such as general honors chemistry, general honors physics, and general and virtual physical science, to name a few.
There is a general, honors, inclusion and virtual sections for the ninth and 10th graders.
Smith said, "We are also in the process of adopting new science textbooks for the next calendar year, so that's very exciting. And five of our teachers on staff are on that textbook selection committee. So we are actively involved in the new textbook purchase and also implementing those new contents."
They were followed by B.J. Hess, a social science teacher at PSHS.
Hess said there were class changes, with ninth grade starting out with Early American History, and 10th graders with contemporary studies, World History for 11th graders, and Civics for seniors.
Electives his department offers include psychology, sociology, Travel West Virginia, geography, economics minority studies, current events and cultural studies.
He also said that there was a problem with the way Apple iPads were working on Blackboard, and that he had to send some students to work on a PC.
Kim Braun, the world language chair at PSHS, said, "We currently teach Spanish 1, 2, 3, and 4 and French 1, 2, 3, and 4. We have French 1 and 2, and Spanish 1 and 2 taught virtually through the Wood County distance learning program."
Braun also said, "We would like very much that our spring goal is to investigate offering dual credit courses both in Spanish and French.
"French is now the fastest-growing language in the world, and they are expecting that French is going to be ahead of China by 2050 or Chinese Mandarin. English and French are the two global languages to know."
Maria Becker and Harry Johnson, co-chairs of the special education department at PSHS, also made a presentation.
Becker said, "We are giving extra support to our students on remote, and we're working with organizations like the West Virginia Division of Rehabilitation Services (DRS) to help support our students, even after graduation."
In addition, Becker said her department offers inclusion classes, where special ed students are integrated with general education students, and self-contained classes, having all special-ed students.
"We work on things like improving attendance, lowering failure rates, and just improving their academic success," Becker said.
She said they offer tutoring for students who are struggling in their classes, offering additional help with assignments, and reading tests to them.
"We can meet with students on Microsoft Teams to help give them extra support," Becker said.
LT. Col. Alex Cantu, the senior instructor for the United States Air Force Junior ROTC at PSHS, said, "our program is a civics leadership and aerospace program. And the heart of the program is the simulated workplace they work in."
He said the program is associated with the Air Force, but not part of the Air Force as a military unit.
An example of the responsibilities in logistics, Cantu said, involves a young female sophomore logistics flight commander who oversees about $120,000, mainly uniforms, and $15,000 in other program-funded supplies.
"There is nowhere else on campus where you're going to find a student with that level of responsibility except in ROTC," Cantu said.
He said, "the most frequent community service we do is color guards. We present the flag at football games, basketball games, wrestling matches, and car shows."
They did 58 color guards last year.
Abbie Burge, an art teacher at PSHS, said, "With our programs of study, we had art 1, 2, 3, 4 and the senior year, they pick between advanced portfolio and advanced placement portfolio."
She said her department had no way of jumping advanced students into more advanced classes until now.
Burge also said that they normally start freshmen in Advanced Art 1, but if they identify someone more advanced and those looking to move into professional art, they can jump into Advanced Art 4, a class for seniors as a sophomore and not have to take the first three art classes.
Some of the classes Burge's department offers include advanced placement, advanced placement design, and advanced placement drawing. Art 4 is a portfolio class, where students develop a portfolio and display their work.
Lorita Carr is a business teacher and the Career and Technical Education (CTE) department head at PSHS.
She said that there are three CTE completer programs, business, accounting and finance, information management (such as information technology, and using Microsoft Word and Office), administrative management (introduction to business), and personal finance.
In the programs, a student can take four designated classes and become a CTE completer within the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDOE).
Bryan Youngblood, a physical education teacher at PSHS, could not be reached before deadline.
"For every CTE completer, the school receives money from the WVDOE to PSHS," Carr said.
All of their programs are done in a simulated workplace, similar to the Air Force ROTC program. They have a school store, and students are treated like employees. In addition, they use two printers to print on items such as tumblers, mugs, shirts, and blankets, towels and socks.
Jason Ward, the principal at Williamstown Middle/High School, has some other class offerings and opportunities to work with other organizations.
Ward said that they are involved with the Building Bridges to Careers, based in Marietta. They develop relations with schools, businesses, and civic groups to help students with career choices through experience, entrepreneurship, and education in the Mid-Ohio Valley.
Ward also said that they are looking to develop a partnership with Washington State Community College in Marietta to offer classes that are not offered by WVU-Parkersburg or the Wood County Technical Center.
"We were fortunate to set up a meeting with WSCC to see if we had anything that would work for our kids," Ward said.
Ward said there are no details on the program yet.
Larry Launstein Jr. can be reached at llaunstein@newsandsentinel.com