By Stephen Smoot
Harrison County’s school board last week held its second meeting of the month of June. Business opened with the Pledge of Allegiance, then special recognition of awards to local schools from the State of West Virginia.
The word of the day in special recognition was “graduation” and the news was good. All area high schools earned certificates of award given to those who met or exceeded state goals in that field.
Lincoln High School earned a certificate for their five year graduation rate, as did Robert C. Byrd High School. Bridgeport, Liberty, and South Harrison all received accolades for both the four and five year attendance rate.
United Technical Center graduated 88 students with a rate of 95 percent.
David Decker, Lincoln High School principal, thanked the school board for the credit recovery program. This policy allowed students to recover lost credits to help them graduate in a timely fashion.
He added that he appreciated the school board’s support for career and technical education programs at United for “kids who do not fit” the traditional school and classroom environment.
Good news also came from the area of career and technical education, particularly the increasingly popular aviation technology efforts in Harrison County Schools. They were provided a report of development of education and internship programs that help to steer students toward one of the area’s fastest growing and more financially lucrative fields.
“I have good news. Everything I will tell you is good,” the board heard.
First, they were presented with information about the impact of a Perkins collaborative grant that funded a hands on aviation education experience at Pierpont Community and Technical College. In its second year, the $75,000 award paid for instruction, transportation, and materials, including use of a flight simulator.
“We’re trying to improve the awareness of aviation in this area,” it was explained to them.
School officials came out to observe the project to learn more, but the next step lies in getting aviation officials into the schools to recruit for the program. “These opportunities,” they heard, “are really important and we want to come to every middle and high school.”
The board then heard about the development of key partnerships with both the Harrison County Chamber of Commerce and also the United Way.
Work with the Chamber includes plans for financial literacy education, including the “Get a Life” program that teaches middle school students how to live on a budget with a minimum wage salary. In the student’s second year, they get “promoted” and are allowed to budget on a somewhat expanded salary.
The Chamber also seeks other opportunities for collaboration, including mentoring programs, competitions, and other ideas. Many businesses seek specific information on how they can best help the school system and its efforts. As part of this collaboration, WVU Nursing has stepped forward with a job shadowing proposal which “will start small and grow” either in 2023-24 or the subsequent school year.
“The United Way has been a godsend,” it was reported. They promote opportunities for students looking to go into human services fields, including nursing and education. Job shadowing and other forms of mentoring have given students insights beyond what they might learn in a traditional classroom.
“Programs that offer job shadowing and internships are the future of education,” it was explained.
Next came discussion of a collaboration between Liberty High School, the Clarksburg Water Board, and the West Virginia Rural Water Association. Gary Hamrick, school board president, shared his excitement about the memorandum of understanding that will combine efforts to train water plant staff.
Pamela Knight, principal of Liberty High School, shared more details, saying that “this is an exciting time.”
Two students so far have taken part in the program with “one of the young men . . . so over the top to do this.”
The program’s goal lies in training interns to work as level two staff. This puts them on an accelerated track for both employment at a water plant, or also heading one. Managing an entire plant requires that the worker attain level four status.
School board members, however, also heard less positive news about technology in current use. I pads used by elementary and middle school students are approaching their “end of life” after six years of use. Other school systems try to replace them between three and four years of use and age.
The report revealed an incredible amount of usage with 114 million separate site visits. Devices also have streamlined the process of taking state mandated examinations. Dora Stutler, Harrison County superintendent, stated that they should be “used as an aid for instruction, not as instruction.
Board members also said that old devices could be sold and that the cost of new shall be researched.
