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Midland parents express concern to BOE

The Inter-Mountain photo by Brooke Binns Morgan Nucilli, Midland Elementary School parent and PTA member, speaks at the Randolph County Board of Education meeting this week.

ELKINS — Dozens of students, parents, staff and supporters from Midland Elementary School filled the Randolph County Schools board room this week when individuals presented concerns to Randolph County Board of Education members.

During a past board meeting, Midland parents had offered suggestions to the board while raising concerns about the potential loss of classrooms prior to transfer and Reduction in Force (RIF) hearings held in April.

However, parents felt their concerns were not heard by board members, some saying this week they were “disgusted” with the lack of communication between board members and parents.

“We are disgusted at the lack of cooperation and the lack of communication,” Josh Wince, Midland parent, said. “There is a very strict breakdown of the board’s policy, procedures, expectations of the superintendent and the expectations of the board and you aren’t meeting them.”

Carmen Howell, PTA president and Midland parent, added she believes there is a great “lack of transparency.”

“If your goal, as a board, is to truly increase community communication and trust, transparency is key,” she said. “There is lack of transparency when members of the community cannot ask simple questions of their elected representatives. When parents are forced to send nearly a dozen requests to speak and obtain public information, some of which received zero response. There is a lack of transparency and communication when parents are advised that board members are not permitted to engage in conversation or answer questions. How does this process promote community communication and trust?”

With Reduction in Force (RIF) and transfers finalized last week for the upcoming 2019-20 school year, Midland will be seeing a decrease in the number of classrooms. Howell noted there have been four classrooms eliminated at Midland in the past two years.

“I ask that when you make decisions about elimination classrooms and removing out-of-zone children that you remember and contemplate the effects of those decisions on the quality of the education that those kids are receiving — whether they’re at Midland or other schools,” Howell said.

“Our hope is to put enough information and skepticism in your minds that you are forced to rethink classroom and program eliminations and see the face value of these changes, not only for our students, the out-of-zone students but all of the other students across the county.”

“We understand that there are choices to be made and we understand there are limitations to what you can do,” Wince said. “But, you have a group of highly intelligent people sitting here that were able to give you options, ideas or maybe a different way of thinking other than just going through a spreadsheet and making a choice, but nobody wanted to hear it.”

Board president Amanda Smith and Superintendent Gabriel “Gabe” Devono agreed this week they would be willing to sit down and speak with parents about their concerns.

“Not one person asked to have a meeting with me or my staff to go over the out-of-zone stuff, which by county policy …. it says the students must go back to their original school every year and every year they have to apply to (their desired) school,” Devono said.

“I would like to extend an invitation from the county office staff to meet with a small delegation of members of the Midland (PTA) or those who spoke tonight — if you could put together a panel of three, four or five parents to bring forth some of those concerns and meet with the county office staff,” Smith said.

However, the parents seemed somewhat skeptical, saying that, up until this point, county officials have been “resistant.”

“We are appalled at how this whole exchange has taken place between the board and with Mr. Devono (during) the last meeting,” Wince added. “As you recall, I took my five minutes to try to speak with the board and Mr. Devono chose to address me during my five minutes, which derailed me and essentially prevented several other parents from speaking due to his aggressive nature and communication with me.”

Wince explained parents have made numerous attempts to contact members of the board through emails and letters but only received correspondence from two elected officials.

“You are elected officials and I don’t understand the lack of communication or the lack of transparency to us, as parents,” Wince continued. “Every step we have taken, in an attempt to contact Mr. Devono or the board, has been met with resistance. Every request we have made has been extended to the very last day.”

Wince noted he, and other Midland parents, are thankful for the two board members who were willing to communicate with them; however, he did not name those two board members.

“I don’t understand how a board of education, that answers to the public, the parents, the students and staff – why it’s so difficult to talk to you guys,” Wince said.

During her presentation, Howell referenced data provided by the county office related to the amount of out-of-zone students in the county. However, she noted the numbers included in the data varied significantly in just one week. Devono responded to this by explaining out of zone numbers “flip flop,” so an answer could not be given in regard to a “definite” number of out-of-zone students.

Tamara Bailey, another Midland parent, said, “I feel like Midland has been unfairly targeted for the number of classes that are being taken from the school, and one of the tasks that I requested of the board was to be creative and innovative.”

She said there has been either a “forced exodus” or a “voluntary exodus” of students.

“First of all, with the National Education Association, there are a number of consequences that come with student mobility — or what we call transient or whenever students switch schools,” she said, referencing one study. “One, higher levels of stress resulting in social difficulties; two, demoralization; three, tension among staff due to lack of proper resources to integrate new students; and four, the loss of student-child collaboration that comes with longstanding relationships with your school, which most of us have.”

Ron Vance, Read Aloud volunteer at Midland, offered a detailed presentation to board members, referencing individual schools’ scores on state-wide testing.

“As you can see, for the different elementary schools listed in Randolph County, you’re going to find that a majority of them have at least two categories where they just, flat out, failed,” he said. “That’s sad enough in itself, but there is one shining example – the only one blue space on the whole board – and that’s Midland Elementary. I never knew there was such disparity amongst the elementary schools in our county.”

The “blue space” Vance referred to signifies a school meeting the state’s standard in state-wide testing.

“We’re trying to figure out what’s going on, what’s the problem or what is this behind closing up the best performer in the county,” he said. “That (school) is the one you should be looking at and saying ‘What are they doing different there and how can we duplicate that in another school.'”

“I read to over half of the student population every week at Midland Elementary, and in doing that, I am in the classroom and I see the comradery, I see the emphasis that the staff and administration put on the students and I see the students excel with that,” Vance said.

Vance was assisted in his presentation by a group of Midland students who displayed his poster boards. Information included in Vance’s presentation is available on zoomwv.com.

Morgan Nucilli, Midland parent, also involved students in her presentation by asking all students to stand and recite the Midland pledge.

“We can all agree that no matter your role – whether you’re here tonight as a parent, grandparent, teacher, board member or superintendent – our primary purpose is for our children and their educational needs,” she said. “I ask that you take into consideration each child and their characteristics and needs, not their WVEIS number. I want you to think of them as a person, and think, when you do consider out-of-zone or consolidating classrooms, think of them as a child — their name, their age, (whether or not) the child receives special services or does the child have special needs that need to be accommodated wherever they’re going to be sent.”

A number of other parents also offered testimonies to the board on Tuesday, many of them referencing their own children’s needs that they believe are met at Midland.

Despite the changes made to the number of classrooms at Midland, Devono emphasized that any student who is considered “out-of-zone” must reapply to their desired school each year.

According to Randolph County Schools Administrative Guidelines 5113.01, “In-district Transfer Request forms for out-of-zone attendance will be accepted for each academic year no sooner than the first of Sept. of the previous academic year, and are to be submitted to the principal of the requested school. A new form must be submitted for each year. The principal of the requested school shall accept or deny the request in writing and state reason(s) for denial on the In-District Transfer Request form. …

“The availability of programs or courses of studies in secondary schools shall be determined on a case-by-case basis, subject to the approval by the school administration,” the code reads.

In addition, Devono also emphasized that the county has no plans to rezone.

Devono announced his retirement during this week’s Board of Education meeting.

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