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Wood BOE moving toward the sale of bonds

By Douglass Huxley 5 min read

PARKERSBURG -- The Wood County Board of Education is moving forward as it prepares for the sale of bonds.

"This will be the third largest sale of bonds in West Virginia history," Joe Nassif, Municipal Advisor from Piper Sandler, said.

Tom Pearcy, Bond Council from Bowles Rice, said the Supplemental Bond Authorizing Resolution presented only brought them up-to-date and that it fit the parameters set forth by the voters.

"All this resolution does is, those maturities and those principal amounts that were already approved, it brings it forward a year," Pearcy said. "And that's only necessary because of the passing of time."

Pearcy said the next step in the process will be to publish the material related to the bond to the public. He said that would be presented to the board for approval at the next meeting. Pearcy said the step after that would be the actual reward and sale of the bonds. He said that could take place either Nov. 14 or 15.

"Beyond that, in the background, bond council, municipal advisor and the board will be prepared for the closing documents and those closing documents will take us to a closing that we expect to happen on Dec. 5 or 6. A lot of the work is behind us. We're very much in the home stretch."

Nassif said the goal is to get these bonds sold before Thanksgiving.

The board approved the resolution later during the consent agenda. A full list of approved items is available in the online version of this story.

"I'm really looking forward to the next 60 days, for the bonds," Board President Justin Raber said. "I think it will be a great process."

The board also heard a presentation from Jason Potts, director of curriculum and instruction, on the introduction of a non-service animal in the classroom policy.

"There is educational value to have animals in the classrooms," Potts said. "As a former biology teacher, I do see life cycles and growth as something important, something interesting in the classroom, and something that can bring value to any classroom that follows this procedure."

Amber Hardman, director of federal programs, gave a presentation of the 2023-2024 Strategic Plan.

"We have a very strong plan, it certainly addresses the needs of Wood County," Hardman said.

She said the prioritized goals for this year are student achievement, graduation rates, instructional leadership and attendance. She said attendance has been a significant problem across the country and state.

"Wood County is making this a very big priority," Hardman said. "We need our students in the classrooms, we need them to be available for learning to happen. So, we're really focusing on ways to get our students in the classrooms, get them in their seats each day."

She said the goal is to decrease the amount of chronic absentee students by 2%.

"When we see that 23.5% of our students are chronically absent, that's almost 1/4 of our student body," Board member Judy Johnson said.

She said if they could decrease the chronic absenteeism, then all the other goals could be reached easily.

Coordinator of Communications Michael Erb talked to the board about the recent job fair held at the Grand Pointe Conference Center. He said it was a success with more than 300 people attending.

"We are planning on doing this again, however, we are going to aim for prior to the hiring season," Erb said.

John Merritt, assistant superintendent, and Stephanie Cunningham, administrative assistant/teacher certification, gave the board a human resource update.

"We're in good shape," Merritt said.

He said there are jobs open but that all had applicants for those positions, with the exception of one part-time bus driver.

During the superintendent's update, Christie Willis said the next board of education meeting will take place in the new Jefferson auditorium.

"The carpet is down, the finishing touches are being added," Willis said. "We're good to go, we can have the board meeting there on Oct. 24."

The meeting will be open to the public and streamed online.

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Items approved during the consent agenda:

* A Supplemental Bond Authorizing Resolution amending and supplementing the applicable principal amounts and maturity dates in connection with the Public School Bonds, Series 2023, and approving, authorizing and determining other matters related to the Bonds.

* A contractual agreement between Sorenson Communications, LLC and Wood County Schools for the purpose of referring and placing licensed Interpreters with Wood County Schools for the 2023-2024 school year commencing Aug. 23, 2023, and ending June 7, 2024.

* Pickering Request for Additional Services #4 in the amount of $802,328.76.

* Memorandum of Understanding between West Virginia Schools of Diversion and Transition Programs, (WVSDT), Wood County Schools (WCS-LEA), and the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation Facility - Wood County Youth Reporting Center (WVDCR - WCYRC). The purpose of this MOU is to make clear the roles and responsibilities of all parties in the delivery of education services to the WCYRC students.

* Memorandum of Understanding between Wood County Schools and Harmony Mental Health Inc., for implementing Project BREATHE, an initiative of Harmony Health Inc. aimed at providing school-based services to address children's mental health, including children exposed to violence and trauma.

* Grae Con Change Order 002 Jefferson Auditorium in the amount of $2,673.33.

* Phoenix Associates Pay App 6 Refrigeration Warehouse Repairs in the amount of $49,309.01.

* CMTA Pay App 035 in the amount of $31,263.83.

* Grae Con Pay App 03 for Jefferson Auditorium in the amount of $30,778.11.

* Alliance Therapy LLC, Occupational Therapist to provide occupational therapy services to Wood County Schools with a maximum of $67,000 through May 31, 2024.

Starting at /week.