Kennith Cook, director of secondary education for Wood County Schools, spoke with the Wood County Schools Board of Education about revised graduation dates for Williamstown Middle/High School, Parkersburg High School, and Parkersburg South High School. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)

PARKERSBURG — The Wood County Schools Board of Education held its regular meeting Tuesday at the Wood County Schools Central Office at 1210 13th St. in Parkersburg.

The board heard presentations from Whitni Kines, director of finance, on school audits, Ashlee Beatty, director of curriculum and instruction, on the i-Ready fall benchmark data, and from Kennith Cook, director of secondary education, on revised graduation dates for Williamstown Middle/High School, Parkersburg High School, and Parkersburg South High School.

The board had approved new dates during the last meeting, and those dates were changed due to the West Virginia State track meet, held May 19-20, 2023, interfering with school graduations, but the state said the dates approved were too early since seniors are required to attend a certain number of days.

“State Department of Education, however, recommended that we consider moving the dates to right after the state track meet,” Cook said. “Rather than right before the state track meet.”

The new graduation dates are Sunday, May 21, at 3 p.m. for Williamstown, Monday, May 22, at 7 p.m. for PHS, and Tuesday, May 23, at 7 p.m. for PSHS. The board later voted unanimously to approve the new dates.

Showri Karnam spoke to the Wood County Schools Board of Education about there being more communication between the board and parents, and asked that the policy on communication be looked at. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)

Superintendent Christie Willis gave a report and thanked WVU Medicine Camden Clark Medical Center for its donation of a retired ambulance to the Wood County Technical Center and Caperton Center for Applied Technology.

“This donation will further assist hand-on education in the EMS and fire programs,” Willis said.

Willis said on Tuesday, Oct. 18, at 6 p.m. there will be a public forum for the upcoming school levy at the Wood County Technical Center. Willis also said Tom Eschbacher, former principal at PSHS, will be inducted into the WV Marching Band Hall of Fame on Oct 29, during the WV Governor’s Cup in Charleston.

“Parkersburg South band will be there competing, he will be recognized, his wife is going to receive the award and I’ll be down there with her, and then the Parkersburg South band will play the alma mater,” Willis said. “It will be a nice ceremony.”

During the consent agenda the board also approved some personnel matters, including naming Daniel Bunch the interim head coach for the girls basketball team at WMHS, financial transactions, some over night trips for PHS, PSHS, and the Wood County Tech Center (WCTC), a contract with Edible Arrangements to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to at least seven elementary schools under the federal Fresh Fruits & Vegetables grant program.

Haley Meredith spoke to the Wood County Schools Board of Education about her concerns with the recent arrest of a Greenmont Elementary janitor. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)

The board also approved Phoenix Associates to make the renovations as detailed to the WCTC for the Cosmetology Lab, an agreement with Pickering Associates for the engineering design, bidding and construction administration services for child nutrition freezer, a change order for Murray Sheet Metal Company Inc. for Jefferson Elementary School HVAC renovations to extend the date of substantial completion by 39 days to Nov. 1, a certificate of substantial completion to Larry Lang Excavating Inc. and a purchase order for Advantage Technology to replace the current cameras in self-contained special education classrooms.

The purchase order to Advantage Technology will use the OMNIA purchasing cooperative agreement #R191902 to comply with the legislative action (SB261) that took effect March 12, 2022, extending the required video retention period to 365 days, which was previously set at 90 days. Installation of cameras will be completed by Wood County Schools personnel and any cameras that are removed will be repurposed to enhance existing security.

During the public comments Haley Meredith and Showri Karnam spoke about their concerns over the recent arrest of a Greenmont Elementary janitor.

Karnam said he has three children going to school at Greenmont and was surprised he had to hear about the situation on social media. He asked that the policy on employee background checks be looked at and that the board work on communication

“If this is a bad policy, lets change it,” Karnam said. “At least acknowledge and reassure the parents and say, ‘Hey, this happened, we are aware of it, this is what we’re going to do.'”

Meredith said the situation could have been worse.

“So many if’s could’ve happened, and when you have someone who has a problem with drugs and active addiction, often times the if become a when,” Meredith said. “And I don’t think we should subject our children to something we have complete control over.”

The board unanimously voted to terminate the employee during the regular agenda and Justin Raber, board president, later read a statement on the situation.

“There was an incident that Mr. (Clayton) Wheeland, a custodian for Wood County Schools, was arrested during his employment in September 2022 after school hours. Due to an ongoing investigation and legal action pending, Wood County Schools is not able to comment on this incident in order to support the criminal proceedings. Our Board and Superintendent believe that the safety of all children is of our highest concern. As much as we wish to communicate regarding these types of issues, Wood County Schools, and its employees, are unable to provide information regarding an employee’s disciplinary proceeding. The Board has requested that our Superintendent work diligently with our legal counsel to develop procedures for communication moving forward. Lastly, Wood County Schools performs background checks on all new employees. Once employed, routine background checks are not completed once an employee is hired,” Raber said.

The next meeting of the Wood County Board of Education will be Oct. 25 at 6 p.m. at the Central Office at 1210 13th St. The meeting is open to the public and will be live streamed.