The Wood County Board of Education held its regular meeting at Kanawha Elementary School Tuesday night. From left, Board Vice President Ron Tice, Board Member Judy Johnson, Superintendent Christie Willis, Board President Justin Raber, Board Member Debbie Hendershot, and Board Member Sarah Townsend. (Photo by Gretchen Dowler)

WALKER — The Wood County Board of Education was presented with a $27.9 million NEEDS Grant at Kanawha Elementary Tuesday night during its regular meeting.

The West Virginia School Building Authority gave Wood County Schools this amount in collaboration with the $62 million facilities bond approved by Wood County voters in 2022.

The presentation was made by Andy Neptune, executive director of the WVSBA. The facilities bond was for construction of three new elementary schools, renovations and security and safety improvements to schools.

“We have the third largest bond in West Virginia with $90 million in investments,” said Board President Justin Raber. “This will benefit every current and future student in Wood County Schools. We can’t thank the voters of Wood County enough, it wouldn’t be possible without you. Our Superintendent Christie Willis put such great work into this.”

Kanawha Elementary Principal Matt Null presented an academic report on the school and announced that the school has been identified as a Comprehensive Support and Improvement – Additional Target Support School (CSI – ATS). Null shared the school’s scorecard from the year so far and compared it to the 2022 scorecard and explained the growth charts as well as what they might be falling behind on and the special education results.

Wood County Schools was presented with a $27.9 million NEEDS Grant from the West Virginia School Building Authority in collaboration with the $62 million facilities bond approved by Wood County voters in 2022. From left, Judy Johnson (board member), Ryan Taylor (President and CEO of Pickering Associates), Ron Tice (board member) Justin Raber (board president), Debbie Hendershot (board member), Sarah Townsend (board member), Christie Willis (superintendent), Dana Womack (director of architectural services for the West Virginia School Building Authority), Andy Neptune (executive director of the SBA), Delegate Scott Heckert, Delegate Vernon Criss, and Ernie Dellatorre (director of business development for McKinley Architecture and Engineering). (Photo by Gretchen Dowler)

“Our motto GAINZ stands for growth, attitude, impactfulness, noteworthiness, and zeal,” Null said. “We will continue to advocate for inclusion and co-taught classes, mental health and counseling as well as continuing our growth and increasing IEPs.”

Raber said Kanawha Elementary has “great momentum” and Board Vice President Ron Tice added that if there was “anything we can do, we will” to help out the progress that Null and Kanawha Elementary have made.

Dr. Yvonne Santin, Director of Special Education, then gave a Wood County Schools Special Education update. Santin announced that they would be adding more training for teachers and staff such as de-escalation and follow-up training, but said that they were falling behind on Evaluation Timelines and that they should be caught up by the latest, February of next year.

“That tells me we’re failing students and that’s not what I want to hear,” said Raber.

After Santin’s update, Raber requested that Santin provide the board weekly as well as monthly updates in order to make sure they get caught up with evaluations.

Kanawha Elementary Principal Matt Null gave an academic report on the school at Tuesday night’s regular Wood County Board of Education meeting. (Photos by Gretchen Dowler)

Kaleb Lawrence, Assistant Superintendent of Operations of Wood County Schools, gave a facilities update on several projects including an HVAC chlorine system project and the Blennerhassett Elementary air balance project.

Willis also gave her update and announced that they would be putting out an open enrollment commercial for next year’s students. She also thanked those who updated several of the policies accepted during the meeting, including the acceptable use policy, movies in classrooms policy, and parent permission policy.

“We were treated to singing by the Parkersburg High School Choir the other day and it goes to show that we have excellent art programs in our schools,” Willis said. “Lastly, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!”

In other business, the school board held a public hearing for comments on the proposed 2024-25 school calendar but no comments were brought forth and the hearing was closed. The board took no action on the School Resource Officer Policies, Memorandum of Understandings, and Equipment Modifications item on the regular agenda and voted 5-0 to approve the unpaid suspension of Gabbrielle Bishchof.

Items approved during the consent agenda:

Dr. Yvonne Santin, director of special education, provided an update on special education within Wood County Schools during Tuesday night’s regular Wood County Board of Education meeting at Kanawha Elementary. (Photo by Gretchen Dowler)

* Approval of minutes from the regular and special meetings on Dec. 5.

* Personnel matters such as appointments, transfers, and resignations.

* Financial transactions including payroll, accounts payable, and budget transactions.

* Out of State/Overnight Trip Requests for several sports teams, Parkersburg South High School student council and choir.

* Several facility payments including HVAC, cosmetology, construction projects.

* A new contract agreement with SoftDocs software company.

* An agreement between WCS and Ohio University for student teaching placements.

* A settlement agreement between WCS and Stadium Solutions for the remitted payment to WCS of $138,504.

* Addition of one Special Education Teacher at Jackson Middle School for the remainder of the 2023-24 school year.

* Conversion of one position, School Psychologist position to Compliance Specialist/School Psychologist.

* Pickering Associates Contract for Bond Projects which details they will be working together with McKinley Architecture and Engineering for cost savings without a 10% increase.

Gretchen Dowler can be reached at gdowler@newsandsentinel.com