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Editor, News-Register:

I would like to publicly thank Wetzel County education Superintendent Cassandra Porter for coming into our county and tackling a problem that should have been tackled years ago. Everyone in this county has known for years that the education our kids are receiving in this county is not as good as it should be. Test results have always shown that most students are not up to grade level proficiency in the important core subjects of English, Math and Science. Recently revealed test results show that 11th graders in this county are far behind knowing what they should know by the time they reach 11th grade. The results show that only 41% are at 11th grade level proficiency in English. Only 14% are at 11th grade level proficiency in Math. And only 24% are at 11th grade level proficiency in Science. As a tax-payer who is more than happy to help fund our education system I find these results to be severely disappointing and unacceptable. Tax-payers who voted for the excess school levy in Wetzel County just want our taxes to be spent wisely and with prudence, and we want our kids to get the best education possible. Our kids and our tax-payers in this county deserve better. We all want our children to be college ready or life-ready for whatever path they choose when they graduate, but sadly they are not. I learned of this education deficiency in our schools years back , when family and friends who had children going to college had to hire tutors to help their kids catch up to where the colleges were starting their courses. How can kids succeed when they start out from behind?

Superintendent Porter didn’t have to address this problem. She could have just cruised through her employment contract and just let our system continue going on as it has been , like past administrators and board members did. She didn’t have to take on the headaches and the hassles and the harassments of trying to make major changes that are obviously needed to help improve the education in this county. As far as I know she has no kids or family in this county that will benefit. I can’t think of any other motive she would have to try to make improvements other than doing what she thinks is best for the children in this county. As a member of what Wetzel Chronicle columnist Chuck Clegg calls the “silent majority” of people in this county who are ‘for’ school consolidation I want to thank Superintendent Porter for tackling this difficult problem. I know it’s not been easy for her considering the barrage of verbal abuse she has taken from the “vocal minority” who are just dead set against any change whatsoever no matter if it’s a good change or not. So, THANK YOU Superintendent Porter, please keep up the mission of better education for our county’s students!

I bet there are some things the easily passed Education-Levy tax-payers of Wetzel County don’t know. As we all have heard there is a teacher shortage in our county. At any given time we are told that our county is about 20 qualified teachers short to cover all the classes at all the various schools. I don’t think anyone would disagree that this has to have an impact on the students education progress, that’s obvious. And on any given day our schools are about 20 substitute teachers short which means some classes go without teachers for that day and that other teachers must take up the slack and either absorb kids into their classes or they must monitor extra classes. That’s unfair to the teachers and it must certainly have an impact on the teachings of their own classes. It’s no wonder our kids are falling behind and the teachers get frustrated. Now to what many of you don’t know!. The State Board of Education has a formula for each county that is based on county student enrollment. The formula tells each county this is how many teachers and employees each county should have to provide a proper education for the amount of students the county has. And this is the amount that the state will pay for, any additional hires the county employs to staff the schools must be paid for by the county, I.E. the county tax-payers. As I understand it, as of now our county employs about 150 extra employees to staff and teach and cover all the necessities that each school needs to function. And we are still about 20 qualified teachers short and don’t have enough substitutes to cover classes when teachers need days-off. Now I’m no mathemagician, but 150 extra employees with salary and benefits must come up to over 10 million dollars a year. That money comes from the county tax-payers. AND WE’RE STILL 20 QUALIFIED TEACHERS SHORT? That means that our county, as laid out now, needs about 170 additional employees over what the state formula says that we need.

As Mr. Barcus recently pointed out in a school board meeting the total number of students in high school today in Wetzel county is equal to just the number of high school students that attended Magnolia High School about 20 years ago. The population decline in this county has left us with 4 small single-A schools. Paden City has less than 20 kids playing football and Magnolia’s band has about 10 kids. The other schools are probably similarly small. That’s a shame and I’m sure it’s not as much fun for the kids when they are participating in an extracurricular activity that has numbers that barely just let them exist.

Unless a new company comes into our area and employs about 10,000 new workers to raise our population, consolidation is the only answer to fix our education problem. I think everyone in our county can agree with that. Consolidation would mean that we would have enough qualified teachers for all the classes. And probably have enough substitutes to cover classes without adding an extra burden to the teachers. The teachers could concentrate more on their own classes and teaching their own kids. When and if consolidation happens I’m betting that children’s test scores will improve and their lot in life will be greatly enhanced, no matter which direction in life they choose to take.

Finally, to those ‘vocal minorities’ who yell loudly that each school should remain open as it is until the new school is built, that would cause 4-5 classes of students to endure 4-5 more years of a lesser education, not just at your school but at every school. Those kids will be more prepared for life if they are getting a better education starting now. Don’t punish 4-5 classes of kids just because you have an emotional attachment to your old school. Heck, we all have that same attachment to our old schools! We all wish things were different and things were still the same as they were a generation ago, but they aren’t. Let’s all come together and put the kids needs first!

Thank you again Superintendent Porter for taking on this needed and unpleasant task. Thank you for not just cruising through your contract without trying to make a difference. If you are successful, as the ‘silent majority’ hopes, you’ll be remembered for leaving this county’s education system better than you found it.

I urge all members of this ‘silent majority’ in Wetzel County to show your support by emailing the Superintendent and the members of the Board of Education telling them that you favor doing what desperately needs to be done, Consolidation! The road that the can has been kicked down has come to a dead-end.

LET’S DO THIS AND GET IT OVER WITH.

Tom Standiford

New Martinsville