School Board gets an update from principals

By NATE HUBBARD/Staff

A brief School Board meeting Monday night at Bland High School featured updates from the principals at each of the county’s four schools.
Superintendent Don Hodock also again warned that shortfalls in state revenue are likely to lead to steep budget cuts for the local school system, potentially as soon as early 2010.
“I think we’ll all be impacted as public school systems,” he said.
Hodock still didn’t have firm information for the governing body about the anticipated budget cuts, but he said he wanted to continue to make them aware of the issue so the governor’s upcoming decision doesn’t catch them off-guard.
“We may be faced with some very difficult decisions to make and put in place by July 1, 2010,” the superintendent said.
While budget talks were put on hold for another day, here’s what’s new in education around the county.
Bland Elementary
Principal Diana Tibbs said her students have been busy in recent weeks with special celebrations.
The school marked “Read Aloud to a Child Week,” which Tibbs said was highlighted by a visit from a character in the book “Miss Nelson is Missing.”
BES students also learned about fire safety from members of the Bland County Fire Department and fire mascots on Oct. 16, Tibbs reported.
The principal said the school system’s new math specialist also held an in-service for teachers recently where strategies were discussed for helping students understand vocabulary used on math tests.
Rocky Gap Elementary
Principal Gary Williams reported that the school is paying special attention to its fourth-grade classes this year as last year’s fourth-graders had relatively lower scores compared to the rest of the school on some of the state tests.
He emphasized, though, that the fourth-grade educators aren’t being singled out and that raising scores at that grade level will take an overall school effort.
Williams, in his update to the board, also reported that the school celebrated “School Lunch Week” earlier in October. He said 32 parents and visitors ate breakfast with children during that week and 72 parents and visitors came for lunch.
The school is also gearing up for its Halloween party on Friday.
Bland High
As he did last month, Principal Kevin Siers expressed what he called “serious concerns” with attendance at his school.
Siers said the goal is for attendance to be above 92 percent, but with many viruses going around, including H1N1, he said the school has been averaging between 25 to 30 students absent each day, around 15 percent of the overall enrollment.
The principal said he continues to harp on teacher attendance as well, a problem which he said has lessened in recent years.
As a way to spice up professional development for teachers, Siers said he has also instituted educator book groups.
A group of teachers read “Boys Adrift” for its first selection and discussed the challenges of educating boys.
Siers also reported to the board that the Bland FFA team had a successful showing at the statewide FFA Forestry Field Day Championships. The team placed fourth overall after finishing in fifth place in 2008.
The band was also recognized by Siers for receiving an “excellent” rating at the state band festival.
Academically, Siers said the Academic Boosters rewarded more than 60 students with ice cream sundaes for making the honor roll during the first six weeks. Siers said it was the most students to make the first grading period’s honor list during his five years at the school.
Rocky Gap High
Principal Eric Workman said his school is making a focus on going “green” this year with various clubs involved in the effort.
He said a new goal for the school this year is also to provide extra support to the career and technical education program as the students are facing more stringent state tests.
Workman also reported that the Rocky Gap Beta Club recently led a blood drive. More than 30 people gave blood.
On Friday, the principal said students will be receiving flu mist vaccinations for the H1N1 virus. Like Siers, Workman said illness has led to unusually high absentee rates at the beginning of the school year.
Nate Hubbard can be reached at 1-800-655-1406 or .