HUNTINGTON Ƶ The superintendent and two new board members for Cabell County Schools were sworn in during the regular meeting Monday.
The newly elected Linda Childers and Reed Byers took their oaths of office Monday to replace former board members Coy Miller and Alyssa Bond. They will serve as board members alongside Rhonda Smalley, Mary Neely and Josh Pauley.
Tim Hardesty was sworn in by Cabell County Circuit Judge Paul Farrell, and Huntington Mayor Stephen Williams came to the meeting to shake the three new representativesƵ hands.
ƵI want to thank the board for the opportunity to be here, back in Cabell County. It has been a wonderful homecoming,Ƶ Hardesty said.
Neely nominated Pauley for board president, which passed unanimously.
Smalley nominated Neely for board vice president, but Neely declined. Neely then nominated Childers for board vice president, which also passed unanimously.
During delegations, several residents who spoke congratulated the new board members and superintendent, but again showed concern for the excess levy funding.
Treasurer Drew Rottgen told the board during a meeting in May the deadline to come up with a new excess levy to put on the ballot for the general election in November is Aug. 20.
Hardesty told the media following a meeting in early June that he feels itƵs clear voters will not support anything other than an excess levy which includes the amounts provided for the Greater Huntington Park and Recreation District and the Cabell County Public Library that were in the 2018 excess levy call.
The 2018 excess levy call included more than $1.4 million for the libraries and over $455,000 for the parks with equalization checks to be paid out when additional tax dollars from assessed property values were collected.
Ƶ of now, library director Breana Bowen told The Herald-Dispatch during MondayƵs meeting, although there arenƵt any future meetings with the board scheduled for the parks and libraries yet, she is ƵoptimisticƵ the three entities will work together to come up with an excess levy voters can pass.
The board also voted on future meeting times and dates.
The board will still have their workshop meetings at 3:30 p.m. on the second Monday of each month.
Regular meetings were moved from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. every first and third Tuesday of each month.
Until the vote, the board has their regular meetings at 4:30 p.m. every first and third Tuesday of the month, but Childers asked for the time to be pushed to 5:30 p.m. to allow for more public participation.
Neely argued the time would be too late in the winter when it gets darker earlier, and Pauley argued the time is too late for students who may be attending the celebration portion of the meeting who have extracurriculars to attend.
ƵWe do have the responsibility of serving 20,000 people in Cabell County, and itƵs amazing when this many people show up to support what weƵre doing in the school system. I would love to continue seeing this many people show up. And I think people can get discouraged when they donƵt feel heard, like thereƵs been a lot of feeling unheard in the past few months,Ƶ Byers said.
Byers made the motion to move the regular board meetings to 5:30 p.m., with the condition that the time is revisited in coming meetings depending on the weather and participation. His motion passed 3:2, with Pauley and Neely voting against the time change.
In other business, Deputy Superintendent Justin Boggs told the board the number of professional personnel still on the preferred recall list following reduction-in-force and transfer letters sent in March is down from 59 to eight, meaning the rest were either rehired in the county, retired or found a position elsewhere. There are still three service personnel on the list, as well, from the original 28.
Boggs also told the board the new Davis Creek Elementary, which is set to open on-schedule for the first day of school on Aug. 14, is still waiting on windows, and the kitchen is being installed. Altogether, he said the building is still nearing completion.
The complete consent, personnel and special agenda items were all passed.
The board went into executive session toward the end of the board meeting to discuss several student expulsions. While expulsions are typically passed unanimously, Childers voted against some of them, and Byers abstained from voting for some.
Childers told The Herald-Dispatch her decision, in part, reflects her concerns about the changes made to Crossroads Academy under former Superintendent Ryan Saxe which would force many of the students sent there for expulsions to transition to virtual learning.
Reed said, while the changes made to Crossroads Academy may have changed his decision, he is also concerned about the impact expelling students, if not mandated by law, has on their wellbeing, and what kind of future it could be setting students up for without a Ƶstrong alternative structure.Ƶ
ƵWhen you see a split decision with the board, itƵs not necessarily a fight or anything personal. ItƵs really saying, ƵWell, I looked at this a different way,ƵƵ Byers told The Herald-Dispatch following MondayƵs meeting.
ƵI think you will continue to see varied voting. I think youƵre going to continue to see us working better and better together, and youƵre going to see more progress in Cabell County than Cabell County has ever seen. And I assure you, with our new superintendent and with the current board, like weƵre postured for that.Ƶ
The board will have their next regular meeting on Tuesday, July 16 in the Board Meeting Room.
