The Wetzel County Board of Education was presented Paden City High School’s annual Local School Improvement Council report during their meeting held Oct. 3. Most notably, the school has seen a significant increase in enrollment and the school’s boosters organization has implemented a generous incentive program for students to further their education.

Kathi Ferrebee, treasurer for the school’s boosters organization, shared with those present about their plan to help junior and senior students continue their education. They’ve already made great strides in this area by offering to pay the registration fee for the ACT test once for every eligible student. In keeping with their goals to provide help to those students, the boosters recently voted to cover the cost of early entrance classes at West Virginia Northern Community College.

Beginning this fall, the boosters will absorb the costs of tuition and books for juniors and seniors taking early entrance courses at the community college to help them get a head start on college education. The only stipulation is that the student pass the course with a C-average or better. She noted PCHS would own the books purchased, so they would be reusable and help keep costs lower.

Ferrebee added the PCHS boosters was the only organization supporting this effort for all three campuses of WVNCC. “No one else in the state has college early entrance paid for them,” she said.

She went on to say college English, intro to psychology, and composition I are currently offered at PCHS and they are looking to add sociology and political science courses to the curriculum.

Regarding test scores, Principal Jay Salva shared statistics with the board of the percentage of students who improved on the WesTest 2 from 2009-2010 to the 2010-2011 school year. Those figures are as follows:

Forty-three percent of seventh grade students improved on their math scores and 78 percent in English. In Eighth grade, students improved 75 percent in math, 69 percent in English, 87 percent in science, and 65 percent in social studies. For ninth grade, 90 percent improved in math, 81 percent in English, 86 percent in science, and 76 percent in social studies. Fifty percent of sophomore students improved their scores in math, 78 percent in English, 89 percent in science, and 44 percent in social studies. Lastly, 43 percent of juniors improved in math, 78 percent in English, and 70 percent in social studies.

“Our kids improved from the previous year,” Salva stated. “We are going to continue that trend.”

Salva also noted that according to Schooldigger.com, PCHS is currently ranked 16th in the state out of 118 high schools. While this is an impressive ranking, Salva said they are looking to improve on that ranking this year. “We want to be in the top 10,” he added.

Furthermore, ACT data has identified PCHS as a high-performing school, as demonstrated by the students’ above-expected achievement. PCHS has been listed in “A First Look at the Common Core and College and Career Readiness” as one of the schools in West Virginia that are making exemplary progress toward college and career readiness for all students.

Regarding enrollment, LSIC President Cork Bowen stated that over the past five years, there has been an 8.5 percent decline in Wetzel County School enrollment and 3.7 percent decline for PCHS. With that said, the school currently has 158 students enrolled. Last year that number was 148 which included 10 foreign exchange students who are not enrolled at the school this year. Bowen explained this meant an impressive 20 local students were gained, which he attributed to the work of the new county superintendent, Diane Watt. Furthermore, Bowen noted PCHS stands out in that they’ve seen an increase of 6.7 percent, whereas Magnolia High School only increased by 1.9 percent, 1.8 percent at Hundred High School, and 0.5 percent at Valley High School.

“I look at these scores and I see enrollment going up,” said Bowen. “There are good things here.” Bowen commended the teachers in the high school for these improvements and noted the percentage of PCHS students going on to college is also climbing.

In another matter, Salva addressed discipline measures in the school, saying the school runs under a “tight ship” where students are well-behaved and respectful of peers and teachers. “When I have a need to suspend, I do it internally,” Salva said. “Kids need to be in school.”

Salva said so far there has only been one discipline referral reported, though he added some students are in lunch detention due to “upping the ante” for middle school homework. In the high school grade levels, every missed homework assignment results in one lunch detention.

“If they do their homework, they’re learning,” Salva noted, adding that there are extensions of learning in completing homework assignments, such as learning responsibility and work ethic. Also, Salva believes higher GPAs make students feel more accomplished, which makes them want to finish school.

This year’s goals for PCHS’ LSIC include increasing the graduation rate to 85 percent. Salva noted that for the purpose of Adequate Yearly Progress, graduation rate is an issue for the school, but they will continue to look into ways to prevent drop-outs and increase the graduation rate.

Another goal of the LSIC is to continue to increase enrollment. Last year enrollment was increased by 1.3 percent, and already this year that number is up to 6.7 percent, as noted above.

Lastly, the council would also like to enrich both core curriculum and appreciation of the arts by increasing class rigor by offering additional college credits and AP courses and by establishing a drama club and obtaining guitars and keyboards for the music appreciation classes growing at PCHS.