As students prepared for their first days of school across the state, the Harrison County Board of Education saw the close of Harrison County Schools Superintendent Dora Stutler’s tenure of leadership.
She announced her departure about halfway through the second regular meeting of the month.
After the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, the Board recognized representatives from Lumberport Elementary School’s Local School Improvement Council. Boards of Education engage each school’s LSIC once a year to receive in-depth updates on progress and needs.
Along with Meighan Jones, principal, came first grade teacher Makailyn Smith, school nurse Kim Cunningham, fifth grade teacher Heather Wilkins, and aide and LSIC secretary Michelle Kaiser.
Representatives discussed challenges at the school, sharing that a little over 50 percent of children attending are in low socioeconomic status and that 27 percent register some kind of disability. In 2024-25, the school was designated as one needing Comprehensive Support and Improvement, a West Virginia Department of Education category. These schools receive extra State intervention and support to improve academic and other metrics.
Lumberport Elementary was placed on that list, as Jones explained, because of insufficient progress academically. Smith shared that the school formed a strategy based on “attendance and family engagement, as well as academic goals to increase proficiency by two percent in English language arts and math.”
Focus and work led to dramatic improvements. The chronic absence rate refers to students out of class more than 10 percent of the year to date. LES reduced its rate from 25.5 to 15.69 percent. Improvement came in part because the school “communicated regularly with families and launched a school wide focus on the importance of being present.” Incentives for good attendance included a special school kickball game.
Kim Cunningham as school nurse spearheaded the communication, calling families with chronically absent children regularly to inquire about support. Between 2024 and 2025, English and Language Arts improved from 26.56 percent proficiency to 27, but math moved from 21.88 to 33 percent. These fell below proficiency targets, but still showed that students were progressing.
Staff have thus focused more on literary instruction.
Liberty Middle School’s LSIC also presented at the meeting. Principal John Rogers spoke first. He also shared that their school faces a challenge with 40 special education students and 75 percent of the student population living in low socioeconomic conditions. Trainings of their faculty over the summer focused on classroom engagement and discipline, including cooperative learning and “win-win” tactics of behavior correction.
He shared that the administration conducted exit interviews with faculty as the school year closed out. Rogers noted that faculty saw some of the same issues as the principals and “a big problem was parent involvement.” To start off the school year addressing that situation, “the first, goal of all our teachers, in the first three weeks is to make a phone call to every parent in our building, just welcoming them to Liberty Middle, asking them, number one, what the best way they like to communicate with us, whether that’s email or text, a phone call.”
Jones also stated that staff would educate parents about the difference between truancy and chronic absence while faculty would work on improving academic performance.
Next up to speak to the Board was David Mazei, Head Wrestling Coach for Lincoln High School. He came to talk about “the fastest growing sport in West Virginia,” girls’ wrestling.
“In 2023, there were fewer than 100 student athletes participating in female wrestling,” explained Mazei, “last year, at the first ever West Virginia State Tournament, there were more than 300 females participating.”
Changes this year have helped to separate girls wrestling from boys’ competition in the regular and postseason as participation has skyrocketed. Mazei pointed out that “with the sanctioning of girls wrestling, I’m here to express a need for a girls wrestling coach position to be created in Harrison County.” Some of the issues include the need for separate practices, the formation of separate tournaments in different venues, and other aspects that take a toll on the time of coaches.
Lincoln High School alone could have between eight and 15 wrestling girls this season.
“It’s just unfair to the girls to not have their own coach because it’s just not possible to be able to do 18 weigh ins for the boys and 18 weigh ins for the girls and not have somebody dedicated to the females,” he added.
The Board stated that the Superintendent would speak with them to learn more about the potential issue. One factor that could help, incoming Superintendent Dr. Sheena Van Meter’s previous post in Hardy County has two high schools with growing participation of and success in girls’ wrestling.
After a glowing report of Bridgeport faculty and staff stepping up to protect the school from rising floodwaters, a South Harrison High School parent shared frustrations about what their student experienced as a lack of preparation and organization. Scheduling especially presented problems for their ninth grader trying to navigate the first day of school.
During the Superintendent’s report, Stutler praised Kosik and Bridgeport for the work in helping the school endure the recent storms. She also noted that Harrison County Schools early numbers show a rise in enrollment by 43 students.
She later shared that after three decades of service to the field of education that “after much prayer and reflection, I have decided to retire as the superintendent of Harrison County Schools.
It will be effective September 30, 2026.” Stutler cited her husband’s health challenges as a primary reason for her departure.
“I’ve enjoyed every minute of it, every aspect of it. This has been one of my most pleasant jobs that I’ve had,” said Stutler, who went on to add that “I’ve enjoyed it very much, and I’ll always be grateful for that opportunity to serve, and that’s what these jobs are. They’re service jobs.”