MASON COUNTY SCHOOL'S ACCREDITATION REPORT

From financial issues & staffing issues to countywide test scores and accreditation status.  This report alerts and/or reassures parents, community members and county taxpayers about what is going on in Mason County Schools!  Access the full report here.

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Direct from the West Virginia State Board Agenda:

"Education Performance Audit Reports for the Mason County School District and – Ashton Elementary School, Beale Elementary School, Leon Elementary, New Haven Elementary School, Roosevelt Elementary School, Point Pleasant Intermediate School, Hannan High School, Point Pleasant Junior/Senior High School, Wahama High School and the Mason County Career Center – (Action)ATTACHMENT
Announced on-site reviews (five days in advance) were conducted at Mason County School District and – Ashton Elementary School, Beale Elementary School, Leon Elementary School, New Haven Elementary School, Roosevelt Elementary School, Point Pleasant Intermediate School, Hannan High School, and Point Pleasant Junior/Senior High School, and Wahama High School October 25 – 28, 2010. The OEPA conducted the reviews which concentrated on student, school, and school system performance and progress. The reviews also consisted of resource evaluation.

Based upon the results of the Education Performance Audits, it is recommended and a motion is requested that the WVBE approve the recommendations listed in the Mason County School District Report."
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See the full report here:  

http://wvde.state.wv.us/minutes/current/ksealoepaExec.Sum&MasonCnty&Schools.pdf

SENIOR SPOTLIGHT: Jennifer Swan

SENIOR SPOTLIGHT: Jennifer Swan - Hannan High School

Point Pleasant Register - Delyssa Huffman

Hannan High School senior Jennifer Swan is a very active student who just finished up her last season of volleyball and is currently playing basketball. While she stays very busy with sports all year long, Swan does find time to help out her community and serve as a role model for teammates and classmates.

ASHTON — Being dedicated to sports and serving as a role model are just two characteristics of Hannan High School senior Jennifer Swan.

Swan, 17, is a busy athlete who participates in sports all year long. Whether it’s fall and she is spiking balls over the net in volleyball or if it’s basketball season and Swan is leading her team as captain, this young lady excels in both.

Swan is a former captain of the varsity volleyball team and said that this season, her last one, was a good one for the team.

“We won senior night, but lost sectionals,” Swan said. “I am happy about our season and I had fun with the team. That is what is most important anyway.”

She said that she has played volleyball since 10th grade and that her coach, Brenda Bowman, was always there for the team.

But basketball has been Swan’s favorite sport for as long as she can remember.
“My mom says I was born with a basketball in my hand,” Swan said. “I love playing it.”

Basketball season started last week and Swan said the team is currently busy with practicing. In addition to shooting lay-ups and free throws alongside her teammates, she also practices at home.
Swan is a previous recipient of the Most Improved in Basketball Award. She said that coach Carolyn Cooper has helped her improve her game.

She said that even though her mom never played the sport, she considers her her a role model.

At Hannan, Swan is president of the National Honor Society. She enjoys participating in community service through the organization. The chapter is currently involved in a week-long canned food drive at the school.

As president, Swan’s responsibilities go beyond organizing events such as the food drive. She also delegates duties to other members.

The active senior takes pride in her community outside of school. She said that she enjoys volunteering as a way of giving back to the community.

"I like the reactions from people,” Swan said. “When you help someone out, you can see how much they appreciate it.”

When she finds the time, Swan enjoys hanging out with her friends and relaxing.

Her future plans include attending Marshall University.

“I would like to become an orthopedic doctor,” Swan said.

She would like to always be involved in sports and believes that by majoring in orthopedics at Marshall, she will not only be close to home, but be close to the sport that she loves.

Swan said that she would love to get a scholarship for basketball, but doubts she can multi-task college classes and practices. She also may coach basketball one day.

Right now, Swan is just focusing on her classes and making the most of her senior year. She said that she will miss everything about Hannan, especially the small-school atmosphere.

“You don’t feel tossed around out here,” Swan said. “It’s very one-on-one in the classroom and I like this school.”

She is the daughter of Rodney and Beth Swan of Ashton.

Seniors for “Senior Spotlight” are chosen from all three area high schools and are nominated by the principals, counselors and faculty.

Consolidation leads to cruel schools

Aaron Metz
Consolidation leads to cruel schools
Friday November 10, 2000

Back to Gazette Online

Our state Department of Education strongly promotes school consolidation because of "economies of scale."

But I have piles of evidence on my desk showing that consolidation undercuts hope of achieving higher test scores. In other words, it is pretty much proven scientifically: Consolidate and test scores fall.

Education Week magazine reported on 150 small schools Chicago is studying. The evidence concludes that with smaller schools, there are fewer days missed, fewer classes cut, less violence, less expense per pupil, higher grades, and the teacher can call each student by name.

In the frenzy to consolidate, as Tara Tuckwiller reported, the small Hannan rural school in Mason County was stripped in hope the state would provide consolidation money for a bigger school. But a Marshall University professor brought scholars to the school and transformed it into a school of excellence.

Likewise, researchers find that small schools help students overcome the effects of poverty. Craig Howley of Ohio University and Robert Burke of Marshall University did research that came to the conclusion that smaller schools in poor communities "tend to maximize the school's performance as measured by standardized tests."

Harden Elementary in Harrison County earned the designation "School of Excellence" in June. In spite of this, the school was lost to consolidation because it "exceeded all goals and standards except economies of scale," according to the state Department of Education.

Smaller schools, smaller classes, is what many parents and teachers have been saying for years. A Tennessee study proves that "small classes in early grades" can help kids to do better, all the way through college, and "they should be provided in all our elementary grades."

Times change. On my first day of school, I cried while the teacher held me in my seat as my mother started walking home. I wasn't too upset though, because I was going to run home at recess.

Now with consolidation, mothers put their tiny tikes on a big yellow bus full of absolute strangers. The first day of school can be very cruel and can leave lasting impressions. That mother may cry too as the big bus vanishes from her view. And her little one doesn't have the options I had on my first day at school.

And so on. The Putnam County Board of Education recently approved a $90 million school facilities plan that includes consolidation of Poca and Buffalo high schools. Tim McCoy, a father of two, said, "The worst thing I can think the school board can do is sit with their arms crossed and their minds closed, and not listen to what the people of Putnam County have to say about the issue."

In the Harts High School gym, Gov. Underwood said, "We need to look at ... the need for consolidation." And just like that, the people were on their feet. They were electrified. They were applauding, hooting and hollering, according to a Gazette report. Don't the people of West Virginia have any constitutional rights?

School consolidation prepares students for prison. Twelve-year-old Sarah Lusk is smart enough to know that consolidation can be cruel. She writes in the Gazette, "I feel very strongly against the consolidation plan. I believe the bigger the school is, the more violence there will be. Sometimes I feel as if the adults don't think this thing through all the way and at times like this, the kids are smarter ... We truly don't want it to work, so we are going to work our hardest to make sure it doesn't." (Sarah earned an A-plus in civics.)

Most every small school has one or two more-or-less violence-prone students, probably from dysfunctional homes. Consolidation brings them together. And there just might be a Hitler-type among them who has a natural, innate urge to lead a gang. Don't be surprised if they add more than expense and frustration to the educational institution.

"A study by the New Jersey Boards Association found that size was the most important predictor of school violence, " crime expert F.A. Fox said. "The most effective strategy for preventing school violence is to limit school size."

The consolidation of Roosevelt Junior High School in Charleston should never have happened. But the die has been cast and it's too late now. Parents were angry and the students cried. Why did the county board take a school away from a community teeming with children? Don't communities have any constitutional rights - right here in Charleston with more than 1,400 lawyers (see Yellow Pages)? Now, who is forcing Pete Thaw to choose another "Roosevelt school" for consolidation?

It is all over. Roosevelt has gone the way of the bowling teams. The heart of the community is gone like the village square or the public well. Soon the neighbors and the young people won't know each other by name anymore.

Consolidation can be cruel. As a lady in Eleanor said: "Many people don't understand what the school means to the small town of Eleanor. It's been the pillar of the community for over 50 years. "

Consolidation can be cruel - and where is the evidence for "economies of scale"?

Metz is retired as a West Virginia State College economist.

Mason consolidation plan gets OK

But parents who oppose combining three high schools vow to block proposalMarch 31, 1998

By Tara Tuckwiller
Gazette Online

POINT PLEASANT - Mason County school officials got state permission Monday to close the county's three high schools and build a new school north of Point Pleasant, but many of the 120 residents who attended a public hearing on the closings said they won't stand for it.
"Here we go again," said Hannan parent Shirley Gue, who has led an anti-consolidation group in the county for three years. "The people of Mason County have said it a hundred times, but for the record, I will say it again. We do not want one high school in Mason County."
Twenty-one parents from Gue's group, which calls itself "Mason County Kids First," filed a lawsuit against the county school board last week in Mason circuit court, seeking an injunction against the consolidated school plan. They allege that board members are violating the 1997 agreement that settled the county's last anti-consolidation lawsuit by not following certain procedures, such as updating bus schedules, before they proposed consolidation again.
Board members want to close Hannan, Wahama and Point Pleasant high schools and build a $19 million, 1,400-student consolidated school about two miles north of Point Pleasant. Residents have repeatedly stalled the county's attempts to consolidate since the state School Building Authority granted $14.4 million for a consolidated high school three years ago.
"We basically heard from the SBA today that if we don't move ahead on this project, it's a dead duck," board member Mary Beth Carlisle said at Monday night's public hearing. "We can't let the people vote on it, and we can't use the money for anything we want. That's a fallacy."
Residents who spoke at the hearing said Mason County is too big for one high school, and they would like to see at least two high schools stay open. School officials since September have been planning a regional high school that would serve 750 students from Mason and Putnam counties.
Parsons and other county officials got permission from the state School Building Authority on Monday to move their planned consolidated high school from a plot the county owns near Point Pleasant High School to a bigger plot outside town, which would cost an estimated $650,000. The authority approved the site change on the condition that the school would serve all Mason County students, Parsons said.
That would seem to rule out a regional high school, but Parsons said it is still a possibility.
"We have reason to remain optimistic about that," he said.
Cindy Ball, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said she would send her daughter Jennifer to private school in Huntington before she would let the school board bus her from Hannan to a consolidated high school at Point Pleasant.
"A lot of parents in Mason County work in Huntington," Ball said. "I do, and if my daughter got sick I would be 100 miles away from her. I couldn't pick her up."
The consolidated high school could be finished within three years, Parsons said. Board members will vote on closing the three high schools at their April 7 meeting.
As for the $4 million difference between the cost of the new school and the money Mason County has in hand, Parsons said he's not sure where that will come from.
"We need to look at a variety of sources on that," he said.
If Mason County doesn't start building a consolidated school by next March, the county will have to give up the money, reapply and compete against other counties for funds again, the Authority said Monday.
Putnam County schools Superintendent Sam Sentelle said officials there will continue planning the regional high school.

Election may mean consolidation reversal

Election may mean consolidation reversal
May 13, 1998

By Ken Ward Jr.
GAZETTE ONLINE

Anti-consolidation candidates trounced incumbents in the Mason County school board race Tuesday night, perhaps paving the way to reverse a move to create one high school for the entire county.
Challengers and leading consolidation opponents Shirley Gue of Ashton and Peggy Huff of New Haven led the ticket in a field of 15 candidates, with 3,379 and 3,312 votes, respectively.
With all 38 precincts reporting, another challenger, Jo Hannah Rorrer of Point Pleasant, came in a distant third with 1,371 votes to capture the third open seat.
Huff and Gue ran a "Vote for Two, Huff and Gue" campaign against the consolidation and incumbent consolidation proponents Donna M. Thompson and Mary Beth Carlisle.
"I think the county has spoken," Gue said from Point Pleasant. "We're going to say a prayer and then stop one high school."
Thompson received just 844 votes and Carlisle, 446. Another incumbent, J. David Morgan, received 1,027 votes. Morgan had a mixed voting record on consolidation, but voted against it in the end.
School consolidation opponents targeted Carlisle and Thompson for defeat after they voted in favor of combining Point Pleasant, Wahama and Hannan high schools into one facility.
One of the two incumbents not up for re-election this year voted against the consolidation. So with a victory by Gue and Huff, they could attempt to reverse the move.
"They do not want just one high school in Mason County," she said. "And they knew if they elected us they wouldn't have just one high school in Mason County."
Parents fighting the consolidation plan have halted the project, at least temporarily, with a suit filed in Mason Circuit Court.
Gue said she would like to put the consolidation issue on the ballot in the fall and allow the people of Mason County to vote on it. She thinks it would be defeated easily.
"There's no way one high school can serve all the students of our county," Gue said. "Our county is way too large and an hour or an hour and a half bus ride is too much."
Among other school board candidates, Paul James Doeffinger received 1,282 votes; Bob Drain, 979; Tom Sauer, 643; Donald E. Greene Jr., 531; Michael Ellswroth Whalen, 416; Rich Tench, 332; and Frankie Chapman, 227.
In other Mason County races, Circuit Clerk Bill Withers led the Democratic primary with 2,074 votes. Sherry Clatworthy received 374 and Shelly D. Mayes, 248.
Republican candidate Patty Lee was unopposed.
Incumbent County Commissioner Phyllis Ashley Arthur defeated two challengers in the Democratic primary. Arthur received 1,664 votes. Challenger Olston O. "Nick" Wright received 1,370 and Ben Roush Jr., 708.
James H. Lewis led the GOP primary with 972 votes. Gene O. Haer received 749 votes and Freddie Green, 736.
County Clerk Diana Cromley easily held off a challenge in the Democratic primary from Harry "Moke" Simpkins. Cromley received 2,485 votes and Simpkins, 1,180 votes. Republican Annette Boyles was unopposed.

Consolidation Children pay the price

Editorial
the Charleston Gazette ONLINE

July 23, 1998

Consolidation

Children pay the price

THE STATE School Building Authority has been doling out millions of dollars for school consolidations on the premise that bigger schools offer better and more efficient education for children.


The Gazette has generally supported consolidation over the years, but the SBA's single-minded drive for large schools that meet "economies of scale" discriminates against the needs of children in large, sparsely populated, rural counties.
 
Unfortunately, the state Supreme Court did not see it that way. Justices overturned a decision by Kanawha Circuit Judge Tod Kaufman that could have forced the SBA to reconsider its priorities.


As a result, the closure of Circleville High School in Pendleton County and the busing of its students to a new school in Franklin will proceed.


That means some students will be on buses three hours a day on twisting, treacherous roads over North Mountain. That's good for their education?


Meanwhile, across the nation, education experts are coming to the conclusion that smaller schools are better.


Arthur Foresta, who earned accolades for his work in New York City's troubled school system, told a meeting of editorial writers at a Hechinger Institute seminar at Columbia University that smaller schools create a more caring teaching environment.


"Kids fall through the cracks at larger schools," he said.


Smaller schools are better able to encourage parental involvement, which is a key factor in learning and educational success. What kind of parental involvement can the new Pendleton school expect, especially from those parents who live an hour and a half away?


Research is also showing that smaller schools are especially beneficial for low-income students, who tend to perform worse at large, consolidated schools.


The SBA maintains that larger high schools save money, making enhanced curricula available. But that's a dubious assertion in large, rural counties where transportation costs eat up potential savings.


Deirdre Purdy, an expert witness in the Pendleton case, noted in a Gazette commentary last year that 15 counties consolidated schools in 1990 - and nine of them had budget deficits in 1995. Economies of scale didn't save them from running into the red.


The SBA refuses to fund schools that don't meet a threshold of 200 students per grade level - unless, as in Franklin, the school will serve an entire county.


The authority apparently got that magic number from some studies saying the ideal high school has 600 to 900 students. But many other studies dispute this conclusion. And the authority abandoned research it began to determine whether consolidation produces any financial savings.


Again, mergers are often beneficial, especially in urban counties. But SBA members should be smart enough to realize that there is no blanket solution for a rural state like West Virginia.


What works well in Charleston may be disastrous in mountainous Pendleton

Consolidation Just the facts, ma'am

Gazette Online

Aug. 26, 1998

Consolidation
Just the facts, ma'am

IN their single-minded defense of consolidation, both state Schools Superintendent Hank Marockie and Charleston Daily Mail editorial writers are ignoring the facts.

A recent Daily Mail editorial was especially egregious. It said: "Franklin High is 17 miles away. Yet when half the former Circleville students sign up for a school 40 miles away in Grant County rather than attend Franklin High, one wonders if this is just a football rivalry carried to extremes."
That statement insults parents who went to the state Supreme Court in their effort to keep the Circleville school open, and it ignores the geography of the area.
Actually, the ride to Grant County is shorter - and safer - for many students living on the far side of North Mountain, which separates the two halves of Pendleton County.
Some of these students endured long rides to reach Circleville. Most of the 17-mile ride over tortuous mountain roads to Franklin is an add-on. To them, Grant County is nearer.
This is not about football rivalry; it's about students forced to spend three hours a day on a bus on dangerous roads.
Marockie is just as loose with facts. He claims that students do better and have more opportunities in large, consolidated high schools. But more and more academic research shows that students - especially students from poorer families - do better academically in smaller schools. They are more involved, and their parents are more involved, than when they attend large, distant schools. Truancy and dropout rates are lower.
Marockie also says that the state can't afford not to consolidate. But no one has ever shown that consolidation leads to any cost savings. The state School Building Authority abandoned a study on that issue.
Finally, Marockie pointed to Roane County as a consolidation success story. He ignores, however, that Roane County is less mountainous than Pendleton, has about twice the population in a smaller geographic area, and has a better network of roads.
The Gazette has long supported consolidation. We recognize many of the benefits of bigger schools. But it is not a one-size-fits-all solution, especially in a state with the terrain and population patterns of West Virginia.
Consolidation can be a wonderful thing in one county, yet be unwise in another. Pendleton is a prime example.
The protesting Pendleton parents asked only for some consideration of the special circumstances their children face: sparse population, dangerous roads, mountainous terrain. They got no such consideration. And now they have been accused of opposing consolidation because of a schoolboy sport.
That's really sad.

Bigger not better, consolidation foes say

Gazette Online

Bigger not better, consolidation foes say
Aug. 23, 1998

When the question is whether to consolidate junior high and high schools, bigger is better, says West Virginia Superintendent of Schools Hank Marockie.

By Randy Coleman
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Shirley Gue believes she's stood on about every soapbox in Mason County the past few years, and her sermon has never varied. Bigger is not always better, she preaches.
Gue is a newly elected member of the Mason County school board and she won her seat with a one-issue campaign: Stop the proposed school consolidation in Mason County.
But West Virginia Superintendent of Schools Hank Marockie disagrees. He says when the question is whether to consolidate junior high and high schools, bigger is definitely better. Marockie says you have to consider the achievements, the course offerings and the preparations for higher education.
"Smaller schools just don't have the resources bigger schools have," Marockie said.
The battles over consolidation in Mason and Pendleton counties have focused attention on a growing trend in West Virginia.
There have been 254 school closures since 1989, according to School Building Authority figures. Some were the result of consolidations, others were due to declining enrollment or outdated facilities.
Enrollment in West Virginia schools dropped from 401,882 in 1970 to 323,762 in 1990, then even further to 301,314 during the 1997-98 school year.
Twenty-eight counties have been through school closures or consolidation projects since 1989. Of West Virginia's 55 counties, 27 have a single consolidated high school. Several other school districts are considering consolidations.
Marockie does not deny that school consolidations often create chaos. But he says neither the arguments nor the intensity of the opposition against consolidation has changed in 30 years. Mason County is not unique, he said.
Opponents to consolidation have several objections. But two common arguments are that closure of a school can destroy a community and the opening of a consolidated school creates transportation headaches.
"It's the same arguments. People don't like to lose their communities," Marockie said.
The Mason County Board of Education had proposed merging Wahama, Point Pleasant and Hannon high schools into one central, consolidated school in the county seat of Point Pleasant. Since Wahama and Hannon are grades 7-12 schools, the plan also called for consolidating the county's middle schools into a separate middle school, also in Point Pleasant.
Gue told voters she would fight the consolidation to the bitter end, and she won by a landslide.
"I think it's pretty obvious the people here have spoken on how they feel about making one high school. They just don't want it," Gue said.
So on July 1, Gue and another newly elected board member took over, giving consolidation opponents a majority. They intend to stop the consolidation, Gue said, even though it will cost the district $14 million in state aid to help not only with the new school but in upgrading existing schools.
"I'd be crazy not to want the $14 million, and I'm not crazy," she said. "But there are some prices not worth paying."
Marockie insists the changing landscape brings virtually no complaints in the end.
"Look at the new Roane County High School. That's a good example of why it is a good idea for schools to consolidate," Marockie said.
"Roane County's one consolidated high school offers students a far better opportunity for secondary education than the two community high schools did before."
Walton and Spencer high schools consolidated in 1994 to form Roane County High. According to Roane County administrators, Walton High had offered its students 49.5 courses and Spencer 73. Roane County High School offers 117 different classes.
Consolidations are often proposed so that schools might achieve guidelines recommended by West Virginia's School Building Authority. Those guidelines include:
Elementary schools with a minimum enrollment of 300 students in grades 1-6 or a minimum of two classes of at least 22 students per grade level.
Middle or junior high schools with an average of 150 students per grade level.
High schools with a minimum enrollment of 200 students per grade level.
Geographic and other considerations may require those numbers to be altered for individual school systems.
Not everyone is convinced. The fight goes on in Pendleton County, where the state Supreme Court approved a plan last month to consolidate two high schools.
A group of parents opposed merging about 130 middle and high school students from Circleville into Franklin High School, which has about 520 students. The plan called for the closing of the existing Circleville School, which had kindergarten through grade 12, and the opening of a new elementary school in Circleville.
Circleville parents oppose the merger because it would require some students to be on a bus up to three hours a day. The bus from Circleville to Franklin rides over North Mountain, one of West Virginia's highest. The trip is dangerous and would prevent the Circleville students from participating in extracurricular activities, parents say.
More than 50 students who would have gone to Circleville High have now enrolled in neighboring Grant County. More are expected to do the same. A 40-plus-mile trip along a river valley to Petersburg awaits most of them.
Despite the questions that invariably arise with school consolidations, Marockie says the Supreme Court opinion in the Pendleton County case indicates the court understands West Virginia cannot afford a top-quality high school in every community that wants one.
The court decision supports the mission where the state is going, Marockie said.
"It supports the future for the development of schools. ... I think it has a very far-reaching impact," Marockie said. "We can now move forward with our programs."
But the arguments against consolidation persist:
Consolidated schools destroy local communities.
"Why would we want our children to get on a bus to ride two hours to a central school," Gue said.
"Our communities are strong, and our people love the communities and the schools. If the schools had lousy test scores and weren't successful, that would be another matter. But our schools are good schools."
Moving students to larger schools damages the self-esteem of low-income students and hurts their chances for academic success.
"A growing number of studies suggest that equally poor kids attending large and small schools can learn more in small schools," said Athens, Ohio, researcher Craig Howley.
Howley says he has studied school consolidations in California and West Virginia.
The one constant is that affluent children often thrive in larger schools, but students from poor families do not fare well.
Consolidating schools creates long bus rides for students, often as long as two hours one way.
"It's not my place to be pro or con when it comes to consolidations. My role is merely to review documentation that would affect consolidations," said Wayne Clutter, the state's director of school transportation and facilities.
"But there is no bigger misconception in this state than the 'quote' two-hour bus ride. You always hear about two-hour bus rides to school. But two-hour bus rides don't exist in West Virginia."
Clutter says the state has transportation guidelines it considers when a consolidation is proposed. Elementary school students should not be on a bus more than 30 minutes and middle schoolers not more than 45 minutes. High school students should not travel more than an hour, Clutter said.
More than 97 percent of West Virginia's students fall within those parameters, he said.
Bigger schools are no longer safe.
"The more people you put together, the less control you have. A big school has become a dangerous place, and we don't want that for our children," said Harts High School teacher Gwen Rainey.
School officials in both counties have proposed sending Harts students from Lincoln County to a consolidated high school in Chapmanville, Logan County, and Rainey is fighting the effort.
Marockie says he understands communities' concerns about losing their individuality.
But he adds that with every lost school, a new sense of community emerges.
"Take the bus rides, for example. When you get students from one community or neighborhood on a bus together, they get a social environment that they wouldn't ordinarily get," Marockie said.
"But what people forget is the issue is not transportation. The issue is student achievement. It's better to be on the bus an extra 15 minutes to get the advantages you can get from a bigger school."
But he adds that consolidating schools is progress. Marockie says in 1932 West Virginia had 400 school districts. An act of the 1933 Legislature created 55 school districts with five-member boards and a superintendent.
Since that time, Marockie says, the number of schools has gradually been pared down.
State officials insist that all school consolidations are up to individual systems.
"We can't look at anything a county board doesn't bring to us. We have no authority whatsoever," said Clacy Williams, executive director of the School Building Authority.
"But when a project comes to us, it's considered for funding. We evaluate the projects individually. We look at a county's structures, their fire hazards. We look at individual conditions of the buildings. Then we decide how to go forward in terms of state dollars."
Williams said, "But I have to say again, we don't go forward until a county wants to go forward."

Judge refuses to block allocation of $14.4 million school building funds

Judge refuses to block allocation of $14.4 million school building funds

05-18-99
By BRIAN FARKAS
Associated Press Writer
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- A Mason County man has lost an initial round to keep $14.4 million in state school construction funds in his county.
Don Greene was in court Monday attempting to delay a state School Building Authority decision that reallocated the money to projects in 11 other counties. The authority had voted hours earlier to fund the projects.
The Leon resident's lawyer told Kanawha County Circuit Judge Paul Zakaib Jr. the reallocation should be halted until next month's court hearing on Greene's lawsuit challenging the county's decision to return the money to the state.
Mason County was given the money in 1996 to replace Point Pleasant, Wahama and Hannan high schools with a single school. Since then, a new school board decided against the consolidation project and in March agreed to give the money back to the state.
That decision came after the state said it would take back the $14.4 million because county officials had failed to start construction within the three-year period required by law.
"You're asking a board of education to do something the board has said it doesn't want to," Zakaib told Greene. "The board of education has already taken a position -- they don't want the money."
The judge then denied Greene's request.
Although the county gave up the money, Greene has filed lawsuits in Kanawha and Mason counties to force board members to stick to the original consolidation plan.
Even with the pending lawsuits, the authority was told Monday it should proceed with its plan to fund the other projects. Authority members had planned to reallocate the money earlier, but agreed to delay their decision to give Greene time to pursue his challenge.
"The threat of legal action shouldn't be used to intimidate state boards," Silas Taylor, managing deputy attorney general, told the authority. "You gave him the opportunity he needed and he failed to take advantage of it."
The authority agreed to use the $14.4 million, plus $500,000 in other authority accounts to fund projects in Barbour, Berkeley, Braxton, Grant, Greenbrier, Monongalia, Pleasants, Raleigh, Roane, Webster and Wyoming counties, said Clacy Williams, the authority's executive director.

Election may mean consolidation reversal

Election may mean consolidation reversal
May 13, 1998

By Ken Ward Jr.
GAZETTE ONLINE

Anti-consolidation candidates trounced incumbents in the Mason County school board race Tuesday night, perhaps paving the way to reverse a move to create one high school for the entire county.
Challengers and leading consolidation opponents Shirley Gue of Ashton and Peggy Huff of New Haven led the ticket in a field of 15 candidates, with 3,379 and 3,312 votes, respectively.
With all 38 precincts reporting, another challenger, Jo Hannah Rorrer of Point Pleasant, came in a distant third with 1,371 votes to capture the third open seat.
Huff and Gue ran a "Vote for Two, Huff and Gue" campaign against the consolidation and incumbent consolidation proponents Donna M. Thompson and Mary Beth Carlisle.
"I think the county has spoken," Gue said from Point Pleasant. "We're going to say a prayer and then stop one high school."
Thompson received just 844 votes and Carlisle, 446. Another incumbent, J. David Morgan, received 1,027 votes. Morgan had a mixed voting record on consolidation, but voted against it in the end.
School consolidation opponents targeted Carlisle and Thompson for defeat after they voted in favor of combining Point Pleasant, Wahama and Hannan high schools into one facility.
One of the two incumbents not up for re-election this year voted against the consolidation. So with a victory by Gue and Huff, they could attempt to reverse the move.
"They do not want just one high school in Mason County," she said. "And they knew if they elected us they wouldn't have just one high school in Mason County."
Parents fighting the consolidation plan have halted the project, at least temporarily, with a suit filed in Mason Circuit Court.
Gue said she would like to put the consolidation issue on the ballot in the fall and allow the people of Mason County to vote on it. She thinks it would be defeated easily.
"There's no way one high school can serve all the students of our county," Gue said. "Our county is way too large and an hour or an hour and a half bus ride is too much."
Among other school board candidates, Paul James Doeffinger received 1,282 votes; Bob Drain, 979; Tom Sauer, 643; Donald E. Greene Jr., 531; Michael Ellswroth Whalen, 416; Rich Tench, 332; and Frankie Chapman, 227.
In other Mason County races, Circuit Clerk Bill Withers led the Democratic primary with 2,074 votes. Sherry Clatworthy received 374 and Shelly D. Mayes, 248.
Republican candidate Patty Lee was unopposed.
Incumbent County Commissioner Phyllis Ashley Arthur defeated two challengers in the Democratic primary. Arthur received 1,664 votes. Challenger Olston O. "Nick" Wright received 1,370 and Ben Roush Jr., 708.
James H. Lewis led the GOP primary with 972 votes. Gene O. Haer received 749 votes and Freddie Green, 736.
County Clerk Diana Cromley easily held off a challenge in the Democratic primary from Harry "Moke" Simpkins. Cromley received 2,485 votes and Simpkins, 1,180 votes. Republican Annette Boyles was unopposed.

Mason consolidation plan gets OK

Mason consolidation plan gets OK
But parents who oppose combining three high schools vow to block proposalMarch 31, 1998

By Tara Tuckwiller
Gazette Online

POINT PLEASANT - Mason County school officials got state permission Monday to close the county's three high schools and build a new school north of Point Pleasant, but many of the 120 residents who attended a public hearing on the closings said they won't stand for it.
"Here we go again," said Hannan parent Shirley Gue, who has led an anti-consolidation group in the county for three years. "The people of Mason County have said it a hundred times, but for the record, I will say it again. We do not want one high school in Mason County."
Twenty-one parents from Gue's group, which calls itself "Mason County Kids First," filed a lawsuit against the county school board last week in Mason circuit court, seeking an injunction against the consolidated school plan. They allege that board members are violating the 1997 agreement that settled the county's last anti-consolidation lawsuit by not following certain procedures, such as updating bus schedules, before they proposed consolidation again.
Board members want to close Hannan, Wahama and Point Pleasant high schools and build a $19 million, 1,400-student consolidated school about two miles north of Point Pleasant. Residents have repeatedly stalled the county's attempts to consolidate since the state School Building Authority granted $14.4 million for a consolidated high school three years ago.
"We basically heard from the SBA today that if we don't move ahead on this project, it's a dead duck," board member Mary Beth Carlisle said at Monday night's public hearing. "We can't let the people vote on it, and we can't use the money for anything we want. That's a fallacy."
Residents who spoke at the hearing said Mason County is too big for one high school, and they would like to see at least two high schools stay open. School officials since September have been planning a regional high school that would serve 750 students from Mason and Putnam counties.
Parsons and other county officials got permission from the state School Building Authority on Monday to move their planned consolidated high school from a plot the county owns near Point Pleasant High School to a bigger plot outside town, which would cost an estimated $650,000. The authority approved the site change on the condition that the school would serve all Mason County students, Parsons said.
That would seem to rule out a regional high school, but Parsons said it is still a possibility.
"We have reason to remain optimistic about that," he said.
Cindy Ball, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said she would send her daughter Jennifer to private school in Huntington before she would let the school board bus her from Hannan to a consolidated high school at Point Pleasant.
"A lot of parents in Mason County work in Huntington," Ball said. "I do, and if my daughter got sick I would be 100 miles away from her. I couldn't pick her up."
The consolidated high school could be finished within three years, Parsons said. Board members will vote on closing the three high schools at their April 7 meeting.
As for the $4 million difference between the cost of the new school and the money Mason County has in hand, Parsons said he's not sure where that will come from.
"We need to look at a variety of sources on that," he said.
If Mason County doesn't start building a consolidated school by next March, the county will have to give up the money, reapply and compete against other counties for funds again, the Authority said Monday.
Putnam County schools Superintendent Sam Sentelle said officials there will continue planning the regional high school.

State fails to heed lessons from school consolidation

Gazette Online
(Aug. 24)

The emperor has no clothes
State fails to heed lessons from school consolidation

THIS is really sad. The West Virginia School Building Authority continues blindly down its path of destruction, taking into consideration not one single shred of evidence to support what it is doing. But destruction is what the SBA achieves. With your money and your blessing, dear readers.

Eight years ago, I put up a pretty good fight against school consolidation. I fought it on West Virginia Public Television and in the Gazette, in the courtrooms in Clay and Greenbrier counties, and in open school board meetings in Randolph, Preston and Mason counties. I lost, of course. So did West Virginia children and the folks who live in the wonderful small towns of this state.
I argued then, and I argue now, that the work of the SBA destroys the children of this state. I had less empirical evidence at that time. I have more now, and the information is just too sad.
These guys are supposed to be educators. They are supposed to encourage our children to learn and employ the benefits of science. Yet, in their own work they disregard or reject the very method which they espouse for their children. For the best scientific research has shown again what we have known for many years: Consolidation destroys children.
The research I discuss here is not my own. I am indebted to many hard-working souls whose labor I will share with any individual or school board who requests my sources. This information is based on cold, hard numbers computed through the best scientific methods we know.
Consolidation does not save money. Countless studies have proven that. In many cases the cost per student increases with consolidation.
Consolidation does not improve student performance, contrary to the theory espoused by the icon of American education, Dr. James Conant. Bad and ill-informed theory that.
Conant argued in his book, "The Comprehensive High School," published 31 years ago, that a larger school would provide an economy of scale and allow for more specialized classes, a greater variety of activities. Well, he was right about the variety and the specialization. What he implied, of course, was that this would improve American education. In that he was not correct. Implemented, the theory has destroyed the very thing he wished to improve.
We know now that the expanded curriculum benefits only a very small minority of children. On the other hand, we also know that as school size expands, student participation decreases.
We know now that the students shipped in from rural communities participate less in school activities than they did in their own small community schools. We know now that attendance drops and truancy and behavior problems increase as school size grows.
Controlling all other variables, we know now that the use of cigarettes, chewing tobacco, alcohol and controlled substances increases with the size of the school. We also know that consolidation is a major cause of school violence.
The list is very long. Teacher-student interaction is damaged by large schools. Small schools are more flexible and adaptable to the particular needs of that school. The children of poverty fare the worst in the move to consolidation. Parental involvement decreases as schools consolidate. Small communities are ruined when they lose the centerpiece of community life.
So why does the SBA continue to impose its treacherous will upon the small communities of West Virginia? It's like the story in Arthur Miller's "The Crucible." Once you've destroyed a few lives, you've got to keep on doing it or else you'd have to admit you were wrong. And what bureaucrat has ever been wrong?
We read that student achievement scores have been going down over the past several decades.
Did it ever occur to anybody that the years covered by this discouraging revelation are identical to the years in which we have been consolidating our schools?
Did anybody ever notice that while departments and schools of education have multiplied, and while the bureaucratic accrediting agencies placed more and more demands upon those schools and departments, school violence has increased and student performance has been going down?
Does anybody notice anything wrong with this picture?
Hello out there! We've ruined the children. Does anybody hear me? Does anybody care? Is anybody out there? The emperor has no clothes.

Dr. Warner, a professor at West Virginia Wesleyan College, is one of the Gazette's contributing columnists.

Mason votes 3-2 to close 3 schools

Mason votes 3-2 to close 3 schools
April 8, 1998

Gazette Online

By Tara Tuckwiller
STAFF WRITER

POINT PLEASANT - Parents and some school board members say they worry that Mason County wants to build its consolidated high school on a contaminated site, but school board members voted Tuesday in a 3-2 decision to close the county's three high schools anyway.
Board President David Morgan voted against the closures. He said officials are trying to rush through a 1,400-student consolidated school north of Point Pleasant, which would be built near a federal Superfund site on land that state environmental officials say may be contaminated.
"As I have jokingly said, what the heck. Two heads are better than one," Morgan said. "I would not want the decision of which of my grandchildren's heads to pat when they do something good."
Mason school officials have been trying to consolidate county high schools for years, and three years ago got a $14.4 million appropriation from the state School Building Authority to build on land the board already owns in Point Pleasant. Citizens stalled the project with lawsuits.
Last week, county Superintendent Larry Parsons got permission from the School Building Authority to buy a different site from a group of local businessmen, and build the school there. The county would pay up to $650,000 for the land and would have to come up with several million more dollars to build the school.
Until 1994, the 65-acre tract the school board wants was part of the Superfund site, where toxic waste from a World War II explosives factory is buried 2 feet under the ground. Environmental officials took the 65-acre tract off the Superfund site, along with about two-thirds of the surrounding land, after conferring with a community advisory board.
The advisory board was headed by John Musgrave, then head of the Mason County Development Authority, now director of the state Lottery Commission.
Musgrave is part of a partnership that bought several hundred acres of the property in and around the Superfund site in 1995, including the portion school officials now want to buy.
Hannan parent Shirley Gue, who has filed for a circuit court injunction against the consolidation, said she was "floored" when she found out the new site was part of a Superfund project until a few years ago. She started researching documents about the site from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Defense, and put her findings up on an Internet site.
"A site with this much questionable history is a concern for most parents in the county," Gue's site states. "Until a certification is issued by the U.S. Army declaring explicitly this site is contaminant free ... this site should not be considered as a place to put 1,400 students."
Parsons wrote to Pete Costello of the state Division of Environmental Protection, telling him that local residents had expressed concern about possible contamination. Costello has said the site may be contaminated with DDT or other pesticides from a state agricultural test station which operated there for years.
"I was requested to provide a written response to 'assist in eliminating this concern,' " Costello said, quoting from Parsons' letter. "I just said what I've been saying. We don't have reason to believe the property is contaminated, but that does not reflect any analytical sampling work.
"As far as the agricultural contamination, we just haven't turned that page at all. We're not commanding the school board, but the responsible person would turn that page."
Parsons said the county will conduct environmental testing on the site, and will build somewhere else if it turns out to be contaminated. Morgan said the uncertainty about the site makes him uncomfortable.
"I'm not confident with statements such as, 'We think it's clear,'" Morgan said. "That's probably what they said 30 years ago when they buried God knows what there.
"We can't bury our problems. They will eventually come back to haunt us."
Board member Darrell Hagley, who also voted against closing the schools, said he didn't even want to vote Tuesday. He said the board wasn't given time to consider written questions from several residents about the possible contamination, the hours-long bus rides students would face, and other issues.
Parsons said he wants the state school board to vote on Mason County's plan at its meeting Thursday. Gue plans to speak at that meeting, too.
"I'll have to," she said. "I have to try to get them to consider this possible contamination."