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Retirements Will Net Loss Of 260 Years Experience

By Staff | Nov 11, 2009

By the latest reckoning, Wetzel County schools will have lost 260 years of teaching experience by the end of this school year. And that figure could grow as teachers who are contemplating retirement move to submit notices by a Dec. 1 deadline to remain eligible for state and county retirement bonuses.

The board of education Nov. 2 approved the retirements of Cecilia E. Edgell, Donna S. Weekley, Larry I. Weekley, and Linda M. West, effective June 30, 2010. At a previous meeting, the board approved the retirements of Warren L. Grace Jr., Theresa Jane Beckett, Kay L. Blair, and William E. Longwell III.

The actions will create vacancies in two principal positions and teaching vacancies at five of the six schools in the county, which faces reduced funding for the 2010-11 school year because of declining student enrollments.

The board also approved Nov. 2 a low bid from Tri-State Petroleum Corp. to supply the school system with gasoline and diesel fuel through Oct. 29, 2010 at the delivered price of $2.5/gallon for unleaded gasoline and $2.21/gallon for diesel.

Those figures compare with last year’s costs of $1.52 and $2.11 per gallon, respectively.

The school system qualifies for what is known as the “rack price”, which is what dealers pay at service stations.

The board accepted three resignations, including that of Stavros Atsas, a math teacher at Hundred High School, and of Richard F. Bertozzi, technology coordinator at Paden City High School. In addition, Patricia M. Potts’ resignation was accepted as SAT coordinator at Short Line School. No successors were named immediately to those positions.

Adam N. Lemon, Samantha K. Livingston, and Nathan A. Underwood were employed as countywide substitute teachers and Joseph L. Villers was approved as countywide non-certified substitute school nurse, all effective Nov. 3.

Kimberly D. Ueltschy’s assignment was changed from countywide temporary substitute teacher aide based at Long Drain School, to countywide supervisory teacher aide based at the Wetzel County Center for Children and Families.

At New Martinsville School, the board approved contracted services for Frank Cibik and Carol Tallman as bus duty supervisors, while Chad W. West was employed a seventh grade boys’ basketball coach for the 2009-10 WVSSAC season.

Contracted services also were approved for Bonnie S. McGlumphy as Fast ForWord coordinator for HHS; for Beverly A. VanScyoc as the schools’ LINKS coordinator; and for Jeanine K. Watson as SAT coordinator.

Sheila A. Aberegg and Kimberly L. Underwood were contracted as bus duty supervisors at Paden City Elementary School and contracted services were approved for Charles R. Blair as mentor teacher-special education and as mentor teacher-reading at SLS.

The board okayed out-of-state trip requests from Sonya Holliday at NMS and from Amanda McPherson at MHS. Seven students from the NMS yearbook staff will attend a design workshop in Marietta, Ohio, Oct. 15, paid by school staff development funds.

McPherson will take MHS percussion students Trevor Standiford and Jacob Hoskins to the 2009 PASIC Conference in Indianapolis Nov. 12. That trip will be paid through the school’s professional development funds.

The board added Kathy Durig as an approved chaperone/volunteer at MHS for the 2009-10 school year and did the same for Jean Carr, Aimee Gaines, and Margaret Kelly at NMS.

A request for a school bus and operator was approved to take Young Life high school students and leaders to the Young Life Fall Weekend Nov. 13-15 at Camp Caesar in Webster County.

Before adjourning, the board passed on second and final reading a revision to its Professional Staff Time Schedules policy to make it consistent with the same schedules in the Homebound Policy. That revision received first approval at the board’s Oct. 19 meeting.