001I go here. Good evening everyone. Like to call this meeting of the Nicholas County Board of Education regular meeting Monday, September 8th uh 2025 to order. And at this time, please stand for a moment of silent reflection. Thank you. Please join the board with the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, thank you very much. We'll turn it over to the top gun. All right. Um Just for everyone's knowledge, we do just I'd like to mention that everything on the agenda tonight has been pre-approved by the state superintendent. Uh Item four was the the minutes from the August 4th, 2025 meeting, which were approved. Um under my updates, I
002do have a few things tonight to share for the board, but first I would like to we have a couple of guests tonight that would like to share some information about their programming. Um Mr. Oh, let me pronounce your pronounce your name right. Presser? Preaser. >> Preaser. Mr. Preaser, who is the executive director of the Nicholas Intervention Coalition. You have the floor. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Preaser. Don't feel bad. That's that's what every when everybody tries it, that's everybody comes up with that one. So, you're not alone. Uh but I am the new executive director for the Nicholas Intervention Coalition. Uh my I Tonight I'm here just to basically introduce myself to to the board members and to the uh public at large who are involved in the school system. Um the
003intervention the the Nicholas County Commission uh has hired me uh and as well as City of Summersville uh are paying my salary. I work for the It's kind of confusing. Uh I'm I'm paid by the Nicholas County Commission and the City of Summersville. I work for the Nicholas County uh for the Nicholas Intervention Coalition. So, um but uh they brought me on board. Uh there are a lot of people uh doing a lot of good things here in Nicholas County. As As I'm sure you're very familiar with. Uh Nicholas County has had a probably past with um substance uh misuse uh I'm sure you know all about those issues and deaths resulting from those. Uh everybody uh everybody knows someone that's been struggling or has been affected by it. drugs and substance use situation here
004in Nicholas County. Uh so, that I've been brought on board uh to help all these different organizations that have that are doing good work all the way uh from prevention and intervention to treatment and recovery. I've been brought on to help coordinate efforts uh and to improve communication between the organizations. And maybe even uh steer steer the uh all those organizations or the the coalition into a uh stronger setting and to uh an even more fostering in in the in the county to to to provide more effective service uh to the to the citizens of Nicholas County. Uh like I said, there are a lot of groups already here that have been doing great. I'm just going to work to get everybody swimming in the uh in the same direction, learning the same doing the
005same dance steps so you don't step on each other's toes while we're doing while we're doing the good work we're doing. Uh again, I'm only here to introduce myself so I won't go too far in-depth, but uh some of the initiatives that we've got um this September has been proclaimed by Nicholas County Commission, City of Summersville, and tonight at 6:00 by the city of uh Richwood. Um uh they've proclaimed September to be West Virginia Wear It Purple in honor of uh recovery and awareness for the situation of recovery and in honor of hope. Um it's it is possible um to uh recover from drug addiction uh and misuse and and create a a successful, um more meaningful life for yourself. Uh so, we celebrate that this this month by wearing purple. I apologize. I I
006don't I I only had a limited number of purple shirts. Uh so, I I've got I've got my own ribbon here, but uh we encourage you to wear everyone, not just organizations and businesses, but everyone to display the color purple. Uh you may have noticed that the county courthouse was bathed in purple light during the potato festival this weekend this past weekend, and uh we're encouraging businesses. You may see other businesses and and uh establishments around town uh with purple lighting or purple ribbons, things like that. So, we encourage you to do that. September 25th will be Save a Life Day as part of uh uh recovery month. Uh in where we the coalition and members will be handing five different groups around the county handing out Narcan and also training folks. So anybody who
007care to receive free Narcan free Narcan and the training on how to use that and administer that could stop at any one of those five five spots. You're in the city of Richwood. Methodist churches which Methodist churches Summersville are in. I'll be good. Thank you. Yeah, I can't remember how to spell it. But we're also going to be in Craigsville and I I'm sorry, but we're going to be in five different places around the county. You'll see us there and feel free to come up, introduce yourself, pick up some free Narcan and some training on how to use that and you may end up saving a life one day, you never know. Um so you've got that. You can also stop by and volunteer and volunteer your services to see what other type of opportunities
008there are to help in our fight against substance use misuse and abuse. I think I'm probably in my three minute You're fine. Want to hear about it. We've got that coming up. I know that listen, she's not here to talk about it. She said she didn't want to talk about too much tonight, but I will say that we've started a a team council What am I writing down? Team action What's it called? >> They're youth action teams in each of the high schools and middle schools. >> Okay, so yeah. So the youth action team >> More news coming soon on that. Today was the first meeting of the youth action team or the youth action club at Summersville High School. At Nicholas County High School. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry. Nicholas County. As you can
009tell I'm from Upshur County originally, so Summersville and Nicholas County are all fairly new to me. I've been at the job now for 2 months and I'm still learning it without notes in front of me. I'm still I have trouble remembering all the things. Um I'm excited about the the possibilities here and I look forward to the future of a of a brighter future for our youth and the citizens of Okay. Thank you for coming this evening. We look forward to to the collaboration. >> Help me better prepare. I'll I'll I'll also admit that I thought it was 6:00 if someone didn't have a breath around it yet that I'm actually here at 5:00 on Saturday. Thank you. Apologize for that, but uh You're fine. I'm much more in tune with things than you think.
010Thank you. >> your time. Thank you. Um also we have Mr. Brian Sparks here tonight from the West Virginia University Extension Office to share some information about farm safety day. Yes. Um thank you for for working with me on this, the board. And so just want to tell you a little bit about the Progressive Farm Safety Day. Uh it is a partnership with a lot of different organizations uh that are national and local. And so myself, Brian Sparks with the WVU Extension Service, we have teamed up with um the Progressive Farm Pro- Progressive Agriculture Safety Day Foundation. And these are the national sponsors that we have. And what these national sponsors do is they provide each student that I have through a safety day with a little safety shirt that we like for them to
011bring and wear the day of the safety day. And of course the national sponsors are on the back. In this teaching session the sessions are for third graders in Nicholas County, all schools. And the the the teaching sessions are ATV safety, tractor and PTO, lawn mower, fire safety, food safety, first aid, and um the the last one is um sun safety. And so, in this partnership, um the city of Sumerville provides us with funding to buy every student a box of smoke detectors. That that is one of the sessions that the children will learn about is where to install that, um how to get a fire escape plan put together at home. So, they'll be able to um if there Lord will if there was a fire, they would be able to handle that situation.
012So, the partnership is also with the Nichols County Farm Bureau. Those are some instructors Western University Extension has instructors in this program also. And so, we have been doing this program here in the county now for 22 years. Um and so, we hope we never have to measure what we have taught through those sessions, but we hope that our students will have some safety. So, our students have now some of them have graduated and moved on that have been through this program that we've been offering throughout the year. The partnership with the board that we would like to have is this activity is on October 1st. And it will be at the Nichols County Veterans Memorial Park. So, we we hold it there at a central location so we can use the cabins if we
013happen to have rain or wind or something, we can scoot into those. If not, we offer it outside. And so, these students rotate through these sessions 15 minutes each one. So, we split the county up into two areas. So, the closer the students are, we use those in the morning session and then the mid-afternoon, the schools that have a little further to drive. We do not interrupt school lunch programs. Um so, the the we work around that schedule with the schools so they can provide the lunch for the students so we can keep up that count for the lunch program. Where we need some support and help from you all to make this work is to work with transportation director to be able to bus these students into the Nicholls County Veterans Memorial Park from
014their grade schools. So, that is the program. Um we hope that you can get that approved for us for the October 1 and that we can work with the transportation director and start working with those third grade teachers in each school and their principals. >> Do you have uh times for the sessions? The times for the sessions >> Start times? Uh the start time is 8:50 a.m. for the first group. Okay. It ends um at 11:00 and then we start the next session at 11:50. Okay. And it and we try to and we do end it enough time so those students can get back to their respective schools. Is it the same schedule as normal >> we've been using Okay. >> Should be. I have it I have it all lined out. I I am
015organized on that end. Okay. Mr. Hanshaw, our transportation director, would you get his contact after the after he finishes up and then you guys can touch base. Yeah, we'll we'll make that happen. All right. Thank you all. Thank you. Look forward to it. Um some more information I have just to share with the board. First, I would like to uh publicly thank the board and the board members for all your help at the uh um community open house we had at the New Richmond Academic Complex. They were all up there serving food and cooking food. It was amazing. It was a great turnout and I think the the community was uh it was well received. So, thank you guys for all your work. It was hot that evening, too. Um School's off to a good
016start at all of our schools. We received uh positive feedback from staff in regards to the professional development opportunities that were provided to them at the beginning of the year. Um we received positive feedback about our two-day principals academy that was held here at the office. Um so with that said, I would like to thank all the directors for their work and especially Sarah Lee and her office. And I'm going to leave somebody out. Miss Chapman, Miss Kyper, all you guys who put those sessions together. Um I thought it was a it was very effective and information that they could utilize throughout the school year. So job well done. Um We do have some information to share, some handouts for you guys. Um Again, thanks to the staff. Dr. Lee and her her staff put
017this together. It's our new organizational chart which has been updated to reflect the changes here at the central office. That's just yours to keep as a reference. If you have questions about any specific program, I'm sure you like the uh the pictures that goes with the the names as well. Also, I have um this week's newsletter which I would like to share. That's put together by our curriculum and instruction staff. There's tons of stuff in there related to professional development, climate and culture, early childhood opportunities, upcoming events, student activities, 21st century after school programming, um announcements for special education, assessment updates, and technology schedules. So all of that information is in there, too, which we will disseminate to our staff. We will be um we'll be providing I'll have my staff to provide an enrollment
018update at the next meeting which will occur after the October 1 um enrollments deadline. So we'll have an idea where enrollment stands as compared to last year in enrollment. Quick quick construction update for for everyone. As you guys are aware, um at the Richwood Academic Complex, phase one and phase two have been completed. There's still a little bit of work that's involved in phase one, phase two, which which SQP is working around the schedules of the school. Um the Summerville Academic Complex is still tracking ahead of schedule. Um everything should be under roof and buttoned up by wintertime. Um this weather has really really helped in this last couple months. At the Richwood Academic Complex, right now that the uh the focus is on phase three. We're trying to prioritize two classrooms, which we'll discuss
019more at our construction meeting tomorrow to get those ready so we can utilize those for our high school and middle school programming. Um in phase three, which is the Cherry River portion, um mechanical, electrical, plumbing work is ongoing. They're starting painting in phase three. Um the sprinkler installation is ongoing in phase three. Ceiling grids are getting up. Um the painting of the existing gym, the elementary PE area is taking place. Installation of cabinets and casework, carpet, and other flooring. Um finishing up the sidewalks in phase three. They did install the guardrail around the bus loop and got up the uh exterior signage. Um the completion of reprogramming of the lighting in phase one and phase two is finished up and working. At the Summerville Academic Complex, as I mentioned, it is still tracking well ahead
020of schedule. Um ongoing work there includes plumbing and electrical storm line rough ins. Sanitary sewer line is underway of being installed setting door frames installing the bearing plates in the top down areas bar joist and decking is being installed as walls become ready. Roofing is underway. They're setting roof curbs and drains. Painting is even begun to today. We discussed in our meeting painting has begun some of the accent walls in the classrooms. All RTUs are on site and will begin they'll be getting setting those at the end of next week or the following week onto the roof. The backup generator is on site. Fire hydrants is being set. The water vault is set and lines are being tested by the water company before they're connected to the building. So work is progressing there as well.
021What else do I have for today? And as I mentioned we will provide I'll have the staff to provide an enrollment update after at our next meeting which will which will give us an idea of what the enrollment looks like as compared to last year at October 1. The sewer project at Nicholas County High School is complete. Everything in there is going well. There was we had one issue with when they report the sidewalks outside they left out one of the handicap accessible ramps onto the sidewalk so they're going to come back and and and fix that so we will have it'll be it'll be accessible for for um for uh wheelchairs. We have a pre-bid meeting tomorrow for the career and technical center roofing project. That pre-bid will be tomorrow and then followed up
022with the bid opening on Mr. Hanshaw do you know that date? September 26th I believe. 22nd 26th So, it's later this month that that bid opening will occur. So, pre-bid meeting is tomorrow at 10:00. Um That's all I have for my updates. Under new business, um I do have my goals for the year that I'll share with the board, which have been approved. I'll give you a copy of those, and then I'll highlight the areas in my goals for this year. And again, focusing on three major areas. Those three major areas for my goals this year is number one, student achievement. Number two, climate and culture. And number three, the continuous improvement in the focus areas that were identified during WVDE intervention. Um I'm not going to read those verbatim action steps, but each each
023of those goals has four to five action steps for each of those goals. So, that'll be the work that will be uh taking place and my focus for this school year. Again, top of that is student achievement. Um My main part of that, my that main action plan or action step is that students will display growth on the benchmark assessment of at least 5% in ELA and math from the fall assessment to the spring assessment. Also, students will exceed the state average in the general summit of assessment in ELA, math, and science. We tied in some attendance there. Students will exceed the West Virginia state goal of 90% daily attendance during the 25-26 school year. Under climate and culture, action step one, create a welcoming and safe educational environment for all students, staff, parents, guardians,
024and community members. Foster positive relationships between the district office and all school staff, as well as between school staff and all students. Provide transparency at all levels in our educational system. Ensure effective communication with all staff and students. And recognize staff and students regularly for their outstanding accomplishments. Under goal three, continuous improvement in the focus areas identified during WBD intervention one, utilization of Identogo to perform background checks on all newly hired individuals as well as individuals transferring from other counties or states. Two, ensure certification practices and procedures are followed and completed prior to recommending an employee for employment. Three, utilization of Frontline for all position postings. Four, provide annual Title nine and policy 43 training for all required staff, which we've already completed. And five, provide a positive and trusting work environment. So, those will
025be my focus areas for this school year. Um Item B under new business, you have a list of 24 policies there that uh have been approved. And those are the policies that were on 30-day public comment from the last meeting. We had no comments. We received no comments on those policies. And again, those are due to either revisions or new West Virginia Board of Ed policies or new legislation changes. Item C is the policies that will go out on 30-day comment starting tomorrow. Those will be available on our website. Um and there are 39 of those. Could you tell us how the Could you tell the public how to access that? Exactly. Step-by-step, please. Step-by-step? Yeah. Mr. Hanshaw? Uh if you go to our website, just go to board members and um there's policy out
026for comment underneath there and then you can see all those policies there. There's a link under board members. You click on policies out for comment. It'll take you to all the policies that's on on comment. And all public and Correct. Mr. Hanshaw, I'll show you right there. Here, if you go to board members. Um policies and policies out for comment then here's all the policies that are These will be taken down. The new ones will go here. And then if you want to leave a comment, you just um click on click here to leave a comment. You put which policy you're commenting on, what type of uh vehicle are you on, your name, and what your comment is on that policy. You can do that for as many policies as you want. Thank you. But
027you That's not just for board members. No, sir. No, no, no. That's public. That's for the general public. Yep. Yep. >> Great. After we get these 39 policies um revised and updated, that will catch us up um on our current policies with all of the changes. Actually, I should have said 47, not 39. Under consent agenda, the items that has been approved on the consent agenda, the payment of current invoices, and you can see the approval dates that those were approved. Um contract extensions for 25-26 year, and then there was one contract, one CCD number one with Swope for the uh change in the Nicholas County High Sewer Line Replacement Project that was approved on 7/25. Item five, our bids that were approved. Um I um A is the bid with Newtek Systems for the
028camera and access controls at the Richwood Academic Complex, approved 71825. Um the contract with Greenbrier Environmental Group for asbestos management plan. That was approved 72925. That will get our asbestos plans at our facilities up-to-date. There had been a lapse in those. Item C, acceptance of the bid from RT Rogers for diesel and gasoline, which was approved 73025. And item D, acceptance of a bid from Art Cart, which is a mobile art program. That was approved on 73025. Item E on the next page is a bid from New Tech Systems for the low voltage package at Richwood Academic Complex. That was approved on 73025. Item six, we have two out-of-state travel requests that were approved. Nicholas County Career and Technical Center will be attending the Washington Leadership Training Institute in Alexandria, September 20th to September 24th.
029Staff members, Mrs. Kessler, Mr. Bayless, Mr. Odell, and Mr. Odell will be attending along with one student who will be participating. Number two, we have some individuals that are will be attending the Title I National Conference in Denver in on February 9th to February 12th. Uh Dr. Lee, Mrs. Duffield, Mrs. Martin, and Mrs. Lockbott will be attending. Item seven is a list of transfers that uh came to us from out of county. Um from you'll see the schools that they're coming from and the schools they will be attending and what grade level. And those all have been approved. Item eight under miscellaneous, we have two MOUs, one with Wheeling Jesuit and one with Glenville State Universities for our um student teacher residencies or clinical and field experiences. C was the list of surplus items that
030the auction was held early um Oc- That was uh a a success. D is the Frontier phone service for Cherry River Elementary. That was approved 72925. Item E is a list of parent volunteers for the 25-26 school year. Those individuals have completed background checks and completed the volunteer training. Does that cost anything? Which was part >> the training. The training is not. Our school nurses provide that. But do they have to pay for the background check? >> Correct. How much is it? >> It's $34. $34. Through Identogo. Under personnel, um professional, you'll see on the transfer list there on number on this item that you'll see um the WDE approval date, the effective date for that person to begin, um where they're coming from and where they're going to. All right? There were five of
031those. Jessica Shafer, Danny Krites, Alexis Wiley, Christina Crowder, and Melissa Gumm. The employment of new professional personnel, again with the WDE approval date and the effective date to start. Do we have a number on the the amount of personnel that we need? Uh How many teachers do we need? That will come when the preliminary comps come out in November, I believe. Mrs. Zeckle, is it November? Do we get the first round of preliminary comps? December. That will show a preliminary projections as it relates to what our personnel looks like, professional and service, compared to our enrollment numbers. I think what he's asking is there a math position open at Nicholas County High School? >> Oh, you mean how many current vacant vacant >> Right. Right. Um Mrs. Fletcher, do you have that information tonight? Hate
032to put you on the spot. We We are short several science teachers, a couple elementary positions, one special ed, one preschool, and all of these positions have substitutes in them at this time. So, we do have vacancies, yes. Okay, the the science teacher that the principal said they needed at Richwood High School, Mhm. uh has that been filled by a substitute or a a degree candidate? Um at this time there is None of the science positions have been filled with fully certified applicants. So, there is substitutes in those lately. Are you interested? Has anybody checked on these substitutes to see if they're doing their job? That would be the supervision of those day-to-day substitutes is under the control of the building principal. Yep. Where did I leave off at? Residency students? Yes. Uh we do
033have two residency students this this year. Um one at Nicholas County High School and one at Summersville Elementary. And those positions those content areas are social studies and elementary ed. There was one correction from the previous agenda, and that was just the title of that job posting. Um you can see what the correction was from and what it it will be reflected in the official minutes. We had two requests for leave of absence for professional personnel, and the reasons for those requests. Under retirement service personnel, we had one. This is Tammy Huffman, cafeteria manager at uh Panther Creek Elementary, effective 12 31 25. Under the transfer of service personnel, I'll bring to your attention the last um Mrs. Ashley Holly. For your information, that effective date needs to be changed to 9 3 25 and
034the WBD approval date was 8 29 25 for Mrs. Ashley Holly. Again, that was WBD approval date of 8 29 25 and effective date of 9 3 25. Under employment of service personnel, if you look on the next page, the last three which are substitute cooks, the WBD approval date for those three was 9 8 25. We have one resignation request for extracurricular, Mr. Amick, the head wrestling coach at Nicholas County High School, so we will be getting that job posted. Employment of extracurricular positions, again, you can see WBD approval date, effective date, the name and the position. This carries us over to the last one on that was Mrs. Stacy Neill, head track coach at Summersville Middle School. That should be um WBD approval date of 9 8 25. Under volunteer extracurricular, we have
035one for Summersville, a volunteer for a volleyball coach at Summersville Middle. And then on the next page are some more approvals there. The last one. You got Ms. Stacy Neal. Um The next meeting is August or October 6th, 2025 at 5:00. Board members, do you have any questions that I may be able to answer? Okay, if there's not any questions, do we have a motion to adjourn? I make the motion. Mr. Green makes a motion to adjourn, seconded by Second. Mr. Moose seconds. All in favor? I. I. Opposed? Motion carried, unanimous. Sure.