State board names three finalists for state superintendent position

The West Virginia Board of Education on Thursday chose three finalists for the position of state schools superintendent.

They include: Carolyn Long, chairwoman of the West Virginia University Board of Governors; Mark Manchin, head of the state School Building Authority; and Jorea Marple, assistant state schools superintendent.

All three are former county school superintendents: Long in Braxton County, Manchin in Webster and McDowell counties and Marple in Kanawha County.

Steve Paine resigned as state schools superintendent at the beginning of the month to take private sector employment. Ted Mattern, a longtime county-level superintendent, has taken the job until a permanent successor is found.

The state school board had six candidates for the job, including the three finalists and three out-of-state applicants.

Board members, with Burma Hatfield (Mingo) absent for the vote, were split on whether to hire a consultant to expand the candidate search nationwide. Members Michael Green (Monongalia), Bill White (Mercer), Wade Linger (Marion) and Gayle Manchin (Kanawha) voted to seek out more candidates; members Priscilla Haden (Kanawha), Jenny Phillips (Randolph), Bob Dunlevy (Ohio) and Lowell Johnson (Greenbrier) voted to name finalists on Thursday. The split vote defeated the motion to continue searching.

The board has said it hopes to name a new superintendent by March 1. Reference checks on the finalists and interviews will be conducted throughout January and February.

West Virginia's public school system includes 55 individual school districts, serving about 282,000 students in grades Pre-kindergartern through 12 with an operating budget in excess of $2.5 billion.

Pictured: Marple --- Long --- Manchin

Tomblin gives few details but makes education a priority

By Jim Wallace

Education is one of acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s top three priorities for this year’s regular session of the West Virginia Legislature.

“We must improve and reform our entire educational system to better prepare our citizens for the jobs of tomorrow.” – Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin

Specifically, in his State of the State address, he said, “We must improve and reform our entire educational system to better prepare our citizens for the jobs of tomorrow.”

That was second on his list, behind continuing “to improve our business climate to attract, retain and create good-paying private sector jobs.” Tomblin’s third priority is “to reinvent, simplify and make government more efficient and responsible to the people and businesses of our state.”

 Although teachers’ unions were hoping the governor would offer pay raises for teachers, Tomblin offered them only a one-time, $800 across-the-board payment.

“We all need to continue to strive for a day when our teachers are paid at a rate equivalent to the most important role they play in out children’s lives.” – Gov. Tomblin

“This recognizes the hard work that our teachers put into our system while at the same time does not add to our base budget,” he said. “Frankly, it should be more and we all need to continue to strive for a day when our teachers are paid at a rate equivalent to the most important role they play in our children’s lives.”

Tomblin wants to give a similar one-time boost for school service personnel and state employees. He also noted that his budget provides funding for the annual step increases in teachers’ salaries, which gives each one about a 1.5 percent pay raise for each year of teaching.

“And although I would like to do more, the fact is at this moment we cannot afford additional pay raises that will add to the state budget forever,” Tomblin said. “Our economy is too fragile, and our long-term budget too constrained.”

 Otherwise, the governor’s proposals for education were broad goals lacking in specifics.

“We need to refocus out emphasis on creating an environment where our children learn the skills necessary to be productive citizens so they can compete in our global economy,” he said. “Simply put, a good education today means a better job tomorrow.”

Tomblin called for:

• Decreasing the dropout rate in high school and college;
• Eliminating the high level of teacher vacancies in certain areas;
• Developing vocational skills from the middle school level up; and
• Designing classrooms that foster the development of 21^st century skills.

House Education Chairwoman Mary Poling, D-Barbour, said Tomblin did not provide enough details for her to say much about his proposals.

“I think that the pay raise will be helpful,” she said. “It’ll be a good little boost if it passes for teachers. As Mr. Tomblin said, it’s not as much as we’d like to give, but it’s all we have.”

House Speaker Rick Thompson, D-Wayne, said Tomblin covered some of the actions he thinks are needed to move West Virginia forward.

“I think everybody wants to improve education,” Thompson said. “We have a number of ideas that our committees have been working on that the members will introduce. We’ll look at all those. We’ll carefully consider them.”

Union leaders want more.

Judy Hale, president of the American Federation of Teachers-West Virginia, found it encouraging that education is one of Tomblin’s top three priorities.

“I think it’s an excellent idea what he has in mind for doing more vocational work at the middle school level, because that’s where we begin to lose kids.” – Judy Hale

“I like what he had to say about the lack of certified teachers, and behind that is a loan forgiveness program, so we’re excited about that for people who go into science and math and that kind of thing,” she said. “I think it’s an excellent idea what he has in mind for doing more vocational work at the middle school level, because that’s where we begin to lose kids.”

But Hale said she was disappointed that teachers would get just a one-time bonus and not a pay raise. She said she hoped lawmakers would do better than that, because West Virginia’s pay for teachers ranks 47^th in the nation.

“We’re losing teachers across every border we have, and quite frankly, right here in Kanawha County, we have elementary classrooms sitting with substitutes, because they couldn’t find an elementary-certified teacher,” Hale said. “So it’s all over the state that we are not providing the teaching force that we need for our students. We’re hoping that there’s going to be a substantial pay raise for teachers and all public employees. As I understand it, there’s about $600 million floating around, so they’ve got a surplus the last quarter. We will be working the next 60 days to try to capture some of that money, because I think it’s important for students.”

Dale Lee, president of the West Virginia Education Association, said he was disappointed Tomblin did not focus more on education.

“I’m certainly very disappointed in a one-time salary enhancement instead of an increase in salary.” – Dale Lee

“I’m certainly very disappointed in a one-time salary enhancement instead of an increase in salary,” he said. “Having your salary at one point this year only to see it drop next year is certainly not an enticement to retain teachers in the profession or attract them into the profession. That’s what a one-time bonus does.”

Tomblin’s comment about being cautious with a fragile budget did not appease Lee. “I’ve heard that for the three years I’ve been here, and I understand that we have to have our state in good financial shape,” Lee said. “But we are in great financial shape, much better shape than any other state around us. One way to attract jobs is to improve an already-good education system. The most important part of that is a highly qualified teacher in front of those kids.”

Lee said there are too many teachers who are working outside of their fields of authorization. “We have to get highly trained teachers in front of these kids, and the way to address that is to make our salaries competitive with the contiguous states,” he said.

Teachers also need more time for planning and for collaboration with other teachers, Lee said.

“We want to be competitive with Finland,” he said. “Finland offers 10 to 15 hours a week of planning and collaboration time when our elementary teachers have two and a half hours a week of planning time.” 

Senate gets acting president after long debate

By Jim Wallace

The normally routine opening of the regular session of the Legislature was far from routine in the Senate this year, and some members have expressed concern it could have implications not only for the rest of the session but possibly years in the future.

There was little doubt that Earl Ray Tomblin, D-Logan, would be re-elected as president of the Senate, allowing him to continue acting as governor as he has done since mid-November, when Joe Manchin resigned as governor to become a U.S. senator. But Tomblin’s decision to remove himself from the day-to-day operations of the Senate in an effort to preserve a sense of separation of powers led senators into a long discussion over the West Virginia Constitution and what its 19^th century writers had in mind.

Normally, when the Senate president is absent from the chamber, the president pro tem presides. But some Democrats, who have the majority in the Senate, decided that it would not be good for separation of powers if a president pro tem chosen by Tomblin were to preside over the Senate in his absence. So a group of Democrats came up with a modification to Senate rules to provide for the election of an acting president at any time when the Senate president becomes the acting governor.

What those Democrats wanted to do was to adopt the new rules, elect Tomblin as president and Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall, as acting president, followed by the election of a clerk and sergeant-at-arms. But the opposition of Senate Republicans and several Democrats caused the procedure to stretch out for three hours on Wednesday.

“I can’t be long, because I’ve got a constitutional crisis to create and a revolt to lead.” – Sen. Jeff Kessler

Earlier in the day, when Kessler was asked to speak at a legislative breakfast, he quipped, “I can’t be long, because I’ve got a constitutional crisis to create and a revolt to lead.”

Change is challenged on constitutional grounds.

 Sen. Evan Jenkins, D-Cabell, began the challenge during the Senate session when he questioned whether the Constitution required the election of the president before the adoption of Senate rules. But new Senate Majority Leader John Unger, D-Berkeley, argued that the rules must be adopted first, because the Senate couldn’t hold an election until the rules were established. Jenkins contended that Unger was reading the Constitution wrong.

“Let’s not just proceed in this process haphazardly, because this is the way we have always done it,” he said. “Let’s follow the Constitution.”

“We are following the Constitution, because it doesn’t necessarily specify when we elect officers,” Unger responded. “It just says we will elect the officers.”

Senate Minority Leader Mike Hall, R-Putnam, also wanted to know how the election of an acting president could be justified. Unger said the Senate took similar action in 1869, the only other occasion when a Senate president became acting governor (although that was for just one week). But Hall noted that the Senate elected a president pro tem at that time, not an acting president. Unger responded that the president pro tem position meant more back then, but it had become mainly a ceremonial post.

Hall argued that having both a president and an acting president could cause confusion. He urged sticking with tradition. “We have 147 years of rules,” he said. “This would be a change.”

“We are in tradition,” Unger said. “We are following what our predecessors had done.”

But Sen. Clark Barnes, R-Randolph, argued that Unger was placing the Senate rules higher than the Constitution. He further argued that Tomblin should not be elected president and then be allowed to leave the Senate. Instead, Barnes said, Tomblin should be required to take his seat in the Senate. “The Constitution says, ‘Each shall take his seat,’” he said.

Unger said it would be up to Tomblin to decide whether to take his seat in the Senate, but there was no reason the Senate could not vote to modify its rules. “Senator, the way I see it, if you don’t like the rules, vote against them,” he said.

“This is an important point in history. It’s important for us to go through this so the court can understand our actions.” – Sen. Evan Jenkins

But Jenkins wanted more discussion, hinting that the Senate’s actions could be challenged in court later. “This is an important point in history,” he said. “It’s important for us to go through this so the court can understand our actions.”

Among the concerns Jenkins expressed was that the House of Delegates might not accept an enrolled bill signed by an acting president instead of the actual president of the Senate. “If we send a bill over there [signed by a person] with the title acting president, there’s a chance they would not recognize that,” he said.

“I can’t speak for the House,” Unger replied.

Later, when Unger said he simply was offering his opinion, Jenkins noted, “You have been to law school.”

“Only one year,” Unger replied.

“I believe constitutional law was in the first year,” Jenkins said

“Then I wish you would listen to what I’m saying here and agree with me,” Unger responded.

“Maybe it’s that second or third year of law school when they really teach you about constitutional law,” Jenkins said. After further discussion, he still was dissatisfied with Unger’s arguments. “You are not able to indicate to me whether you believe the acting president is an officer of the Senate,” Jenkins said.

“I believe the acting president will be the presiding officer of the Senate,” Unger said. But Jenkins said, “My question is: Is the position of acting president an officer?”

“A rose is a rose is a rose, Senator,” Unger said.

In a discussion of whether Tomblin would be able to hold the title of Senate president without exercising the power of the office, Jenkins contended that Unger was suggesting the Constitution is unconstitutional.

“One can hold a title but doesn’t necessarily have to exercise the power of that position,” Unger said. “So I don’t think the Constitution is unconstitutional.”

“Can we have two presidents, or two presiding officers?” Jenkins asked.

“You cannot have two presiding officers, because there is only one seat up there,” Unger replied.

Republican berates Tomblin for not being present in the Senate.

“He is the senator from Logan first, and the people of West Virginia need him to be in this chamber and voting.” – Sen. Karen Facemyer

But Sen. Karen Facemyer, R-Jackson, wasn’t satisfied. “I believe what has happened in this chamber since the party caucuses is unprecedented, it’s unconstitutional and it’s illegal,” she said. Suggesting that Tomblin was sitting downstairs in the governor’s office, listening to the Senate debate, Facemyer said it was a shame that Tomblin was not present in the Senate chamber.

“He is the senator from Logan first, and the people of West Virginia need him to be in this chamber and voting,” she said. “He doesn’t have the decency to come to the opening day and listen to the debate and take the chair if he is chosen and elected to do so.”

Barnes said that members of the Senate could compel the attendance of absence members and suggested doing so in Tomblin’s case. But the presiding officer, Sen. Truman Chafin, D-Mingo, told Barnes the provision for compelling attendance is only for getting a quorum.

(In an odd twist, Chafin was the presiding officer at the beginning of the session by virtue of having had the longest continuous service in the Senate, although Tomblin would have had that distinction if he had been present. Even though he had to preside over the effort to adopt the new rules, Chafin opposed the change in rules and suffered from it, because it caused him to lose his longtime position as majority leader.)

Delay for court challenge was averted.

Barnes then suggested that the court system should decide the issues of constitutionality that the senators had been debating. He asked, “Do you believe it might be in the best interest of this body to adjourn or be in recess until such proper documents could be prepared and filed with the courts in this state to answer these questions?” Chafin said he could not rule on such a matter, so Barnes made a motion for the Senate to adjourn.

That motion was defeated with five of the six Republicans and four Democrats – Chafin, Jenkins, former Senate Finance Chairman Walt Helmick, D-Pocahontas, and Sen. Gregory Tucker, D-Nicholas – voting for it. The rest of the Democrats voted against the motion. Tomblin and Dave Sypolt, R-Preston, were absent.

Hall then argued that he thought the drafters of the current Constitution, adopted in 1872, intended for a Senate president to stay in the Senate even while acting as governor. He noted that the language in the Constitution calls for the president to “act as governor,” which he said was weaker language than “acting governor.”

The Constitution also has a provision for a joint session of the Legislature to elect a governor, Hall said, and he suggested invoking that provision might be the best solution.

“All of our work in the days and weeks ahead may be for naught.” – Sen. Evan Jenkins

Jenkins encouraged his colleagues to reject the new version of the Senate rules. He argued that they might end up conflicting with joint rules that both the Senate and the House of Delegates would adopt.

 “It is interesting that we don’t know what the joint rules will be and whether or not even this acting president’s position will be recognized and that all of our work in the days and weeks ahead may be for naught,” Jenkins said. “It may be that we take some action, and years down the road, a criminal conviction for murder or an appropriation gets challenged because what we did was flawed. It’s raised at that point and the court tosses it out because we changed the context of what the word ‘president’ means.”

The Senate doesn’t have the power to do whatever members want it to do, he said, suggesting that the rules proposed by some of his fellow Democrats were unconstitutional.

“What they’re trying to do is achieve their goal of taking control and seizing power in a moment of our state’s history where our leader is in an awkward, difficult position of trying to understand what he can and can’t do under the Constitution,” Jenkins said.

But Unger closed the series of arguments by saying the new rules would help ensure the separation of powers while the Senate president acts as governor. He said it was imperative to do that.

After almost two hours of debate, when the vote was taken, 21 senators – all Democrats – voted for the new rules. All six Republicans and six Democrats – Chafin, Helmick, Jenkins, Tucker, and John Pat Fanning, D-McDowell, and Joe Minard, D-Harrison – voted against it. Only Tomblin was absent.

Tomblin makes brief appearance.

After a 20-minute recess, the Senate then re-elected Tomblin as president. In a normal year, that would have been done by acclamation. Hall made such a motion, but Fanning objected. So a vote was taken and resulted in 30 votes for Tomblin and three votes against him – Facemyer, Fanning and Helmick. Once again, only Tomblin was absent, but directly after the vote, he entered the chamber, took his oath of office and addressed the members.

“In a lot of ways, the past two months have been difficult for all of us,” he said. “At the end of the day, we need to get the work of the people done. We need to do what is right for West Virginia,”

“I do not believe that by taking my seat it is a violation of the separation of powers, and I remain the Senate President.” – Senate President and acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin 

Tomblin said he was called by the Constitution to act as governor. “I do not believe that by taking my seat it is a violation of the separation of powers, and I remain the Senate President,” he said.

After Tomblin left, the Senate elected Kessler to the new post of acting president. Despite all the arguments over whether the position should have been created, Kessler was elected on a voice vote with just a few nays.

“I recognize that we’re in unchartered waters and historical times and areas and places as a body that we haven’t faced for 150 years,” he said. “But as I look above me and I see that clock, I’m reminded that it is always moving forward. If the clock doesn’t work right, we start working backwards.”

Kessler then challenged his colleagues to “do great things for West Virginia.”

After the election of a clerk and a sergeant-of-arms, the Senate got on to the business of introducing bills – exactly three hours after the session began.

How long Kessler will continue to serve as acting president of the Senate could depend on potential legal challenges to the creation of the position, as well as the outcome of a case the West Virginia Supreme Court heard Tuesday on whether an election for the next governor should be held this year or next year.

Lawmakers receive proposals for sweeping changes in secondary education

By Jim Wallace

The last set of monthly interim legislative meetings before the beginning of the Legislature’s regular, 60-day session is usually a time for committees and subcommittees to summarize their work over the last several months and decide whether to recommend any bills to the full Legislature. But two Education Department officials, one current and one retired, shook up members of Education Subcommittee B this week with a set of eight principles for widespread changes in the operations of West Virginia’s secondary schools.

Lawmakers’ reactions to the proposals ranged from amazement and agreement to skepticism.

The subcommittee received the proposals from Kathy D’Antoni, the state’s assistant superintendent for technical, adult and institutional education, and Stanley Hopkins, who held that position before he retired.

“We’re essentially using a model for delivery of secondary education that has changed very little since its inception,” Hopkins explained. “The students have changed dramatically. The world has changed dramatically. And I think there is a lot of agreement that for many students the outcomes are not what we would like for them to be in terms of their achievement, in terms of we’re seeing significant numbers of students dropping out of school, disengaged, uninterested.”

“Right now, students are just meandering through a system unsure of what it is exactly that they’re supposed to have achieved.” – Stan Hopkins

The system has not done a good job of defining outcomes and helping students set targets for themselves, he said.

“Right now, students are just meandering through a system unsure of what it is exactly that they’re supposed to have achieved,” Hopkins said.

Among the problems he cited in the current system are:

• One-size-fits-all high school graduation requirements that result in limited flexibility or personalization for students.
• Credit being awarded primarily based on time rather than mastery of content.
• Limited use of creativity in use of time and place for learning in middle school and high school.
• Lack of focus and engagement on the part of many students, resulting in increased dropouts, course failures and frustration.

“I think we certainly have an ineffective academic and career counseling program for large numbers of our students, which results in limited post-secondary planning, goal-setting or aspirations on the part of many students.” – Stan Hopkins

“I think we certainly have an ineffective academic and career counseling program for large numbers of our students, which results in limited post-secondary planning, goal-setting or aspirations on the part of many students,” Hopkins said. “There’s a lack of clearly defined opportunities for students to accelerate their learning and unacceptable college remediation rates, particularly in mathematics and English/language arts.”

West Virginia has a standards-based instructional model, but not all teachers stick to the standards, he said, and there are disconnects between current high school policy and some statutes.

“We have a lot of good policy in place,” Hopkins said. “There is a lot of good statute in place.”

However, he said, schools vary widely in use of the senior year, instructional planning, use of instructional time for sports and providing students with access to structured career and academic counseling programs.

“Probably the greatest challenge we see sometimes is there is a lack of urgency for changing what is out there in the minds of many administrators, teachers, parents and community members,” Hopkins told the subcommittee on Sunday.

Each of the eight principles incorporates redesign concepts.

The eight proposed principles are:

• Principle I: Provide every student equal access to a challenging curriculum that is based on clearly understood and accepted standards and that is engaging and relevant to the student and the world he or she will face.

Redesign Concepts:

1. Eliminate inflexible requirements and allow credit for experiences in other courses (embedded credit) or outside-of-the-school environment to count toward graduation.
2. Redefine the “core” for all students to be offered in ninth and 10^th grades and allow for differentiated graduation requirements in grades 11 and 12, based on individual student career and education goals.

D’Antoni said, “The idea here is: If I get the knowledge and the content, who cares where I got it?” She said Techademics, the embedded credit program, is starting to address this principle.

• Principle II: Assist students to make “informed” decisions concerning education and career choices, including planning and goal-setting.

Redesign Concepts:

1. Require a standards-based academic and career counseling program for all students beginning in middle school.
2. Reemphasize five-year transition planning for all students, including required parental involvement in the process.
3. Develop an on-line career development course through the West Virginia Virtual School for students in the ninth grade or 10^th grade with oversight by teachers/advisors.

“Most of the students who drop out of school – it’s not because of academics. It’s not because they aren’t capable. It’s because they see no purpose in where they are. There’s no goal. They see no vision.” – Kathy D’Antoni

D’Antoni called career guidance “the major, major piece” of the proposed changes, because setting goals is important and a way to turn students on to education. “Our students should graduate high school with an idea of where it is they want to go,” she said. “Most of the students who drop out of school – it’s not because of academics. It’s not because they aren’t capable. It’s because they see no purpose in where they are. There’s no goal. They see no vision.”

• Principle III: Provide all students the opportunity to obtain a “value-added” high school diploma (College and Career Readiness Credentials).

Redesign Concepts:

1. Formalize the College and Career Readiness criteria and the process for documenting student readiness.
2. Recognize students meeting the definition of College and/or Career Ready through a designation on their high school diplomas.

• Principle IV: Eliminate failure as an option [but rather expect] “mastery” or “mastery in progress” as documented through an electronic portfolio of other means.

Redesign Concepts:

1. Implement a portfolio requirement for all students in grades 7-12.
2. Designate alternative means of demonstrating mastery, documenting student progress and awarding credit (portfolio reviews, culminating events, Learn21, etc.)

D’Antoni said children are excited about school in kindergarten, but by third grade, some of them hate it. This principle looks at getting such kids into alternative programs to help them be successful, she said, and they would have portfolios to document their mastery of what they can do.

• Principle V: Clearly delineate readiness standards at critical transition portals (fourth grade, ninth grade, 11^th grade and postsecondary).

Redesign Concepts:

1. Designate literacy and numeracy readiness standards at the end of grades three, eight, 10 and 12.
2. Develop flexible protocols for students to demonstrate readiness for the next level.
3. Design structured interventions to allow students to develop the required numeracy and literacy skills needed to progress to the next level.

D’Antoni said, “We need to succinctly tell parents, students and teachers what are those minimum literacy and numeracy skills I need to go into first grade.” She warned against making it punitive, but said troubled students should receive alternative education plans to get them students back on track.

• Principle VI: Demonstrate flexibility in scheduling, organization and use of time so that all students can attain mastery of essential content regardless of time or place, allowing students to accelerate or take additional time to meet standards.

Redesign Concepts:

1. Develop processes to identify and award students embedded academic credit for content learned in other courses.
2. Expand virtual and blended instruction opportunities for students.
3. Formalize experimental learning credit, both in and outside of school.
4. Allow higher-level college classes to substitute for high school requirements.
5. Extend time for students to demonstrate mastery of content (credit recovery).

D’Antoni noted that she got in trouble with the state superintendent in 1996 for saying so, but she still believes that the problem with education is that it is run by the three Bs: bells, buses and balls. She clarified that the “balls” are those used in sports. She said the focus of education should be on mastery rather than on the schedule and the minutes spent in the classroom.

• Principle VII: Support students through the tailored interventions and supports they need to achieve success and complete the requirements for high school.

Redesign Concepts:

1. Designate multiple options for high school completion (regular diploma, modified diploma, GED option, etc.)
2. Allow early enrollment in career and technical preparation programs combined with virtual, embedded credit, credit recovery, GED option component, etc.
3. Expand virtual courses and access to them outside of the school structure.

• Principle VIII: Provide each student with a personalized education in a setting that is safe, where he or she is known by an adult advocate, resulting in no student becoming a statistical casualty, and where parents, families and communities are involved in the life of the school.

Redesign Concepts:

1. Assign each student an advisor through an organized academic/career counseling program.
2. Engage parents in the transitional planning process.
3. Involve parents and community in the culminating events associated with the student portfolios and mastery demonstrations.
4. Increase the opportunities afforded students to acquire college credit while in high school (dual credit, college classes, EDGE credit, virtual classes, etc.)
5. Promote the career pathways within the academic and career counseling programs, including emphasis on student and parent access to the College for West Virginia website.
6. Expand opportunities for students to acquire industry-recognized credentials as part of their career and technical preparation.
7. Encourage students to acquire significant credit toward an identified associate degree while in high school through the EDGE initiative.
8. Expand 13^th year options for students in career and technical programs through collaborative agreements with the community and technical colleges.

D’Antoni said students should receive personalized education in safe settings with adults as their advocates, but currently, each guidance counselor must deal with about 450 students. “Our whole culture of school needs to be to mentor for kids,” she said.

Years of work went into the proposals.

Hopkins said the recommendations result from seven years of work by a high school redesign committee, but members realized it would be hard to redesign high schools effectively without also changing middle schools. He said an 80-member state task force has been working on the proposals for two to three years. The group conducted 17 forums in high schools a year ago with groups of graduating seniors, who were “brutally honest” about school problems and supportive of the proposed changes, he said. Other broad stakeholder groups also have responded positively to the proposals, he added. 

The proposals are not completely new. Hopkins said the Legislature helped last year by passing House Bill 4593, which established both the GED Option program and embedded-credit, or Techademics, model. Many items in the proposed principles were also in Senate Bill 300 that was passed in 1998, he said, but some of them have never borne fruit in the classroom.

D’Antoni, who is a member of the high school redesign committee, said West Virginia has many exemplary educators, but they are hindered by the system in which they must work. She said lawmakers have passed some great legislation over the past 10 years, but they have amounted to a Band-Aid approach.

“We are all stuck in a 1940s industrial model for education and trying to deliver 21^st century skills within that model, and the two conflict. We can’t do it with a Band-Aid approach unfortunately.” – Kathy D’Antoni

“We are all stuck in a 1940s industrial model for education and trying to deliver 21^st century skills within that model, and the two conflict,” she said. “We can’t do it with a Band-Aid approach unfortunately.”

D’Antoni said technology is an important underlying piece of the proposed changes. She said it’s more important in a rural state like West Virginia than in some other parts of the country, because it is the only practical way to bring to small, scattered schools some of the resources they will need.

“This attempt to change the whole design of schools is a bold, huge step, but it’s one, I think, West Virginia needs to take if we are to prepare our students for the future and also to bolster the economy in West Virginia.” – Kathy D’Antoni

“This attempt to change the whole design of schools is a bold, huge step, but it’s one, I think, West Virginia needs to take if we are to prepare our students for the future and also to bolster the economy in West Virginia,” D’Antoni said. “I think we are in an urgent situation, and it frightens me that we continue dialogue but have not made very many bold steps in changes, because time waits for nobody and other states are moving. I think it’s time we need to move.”

Lawmakers have mixed reactions.

Immediately after D’Antoni and Hopkins made their presentation, Sen. Ron Stollings, D-Boone, seemed a bit stunned. “This is huge,” he said. “This is far-reaching.”

But Stollings wondered what the mechanism of implementing the principles would be.

“This is big stuff,” Hopkins said in agreement. “I think it’s going to take some time to readjust the system, because many of these things go against tradition.”

The greatest challenge is determining how to assess mastery of subjects, he said. The WESTEST is not good enough, Hopkins said, because many students need alternative ways to demonstrate mastery.

“We don’t put nearly enough responsibility on students for their own learning,” he said. “It’s really changing a culture.”

Hopkins said a model the state used in the past from the Southern Regional Education Board with 10 key practices was good, but those practices didn’t change the system. That model just tweaked around the edges, he said, but the whole system must change.

“When we presented this to students, the students were very, very supportive of it,” Hopkins said of the set of eight principles. The current system is very centralized and regulated, giving teachers and schools little flexibility, he said. Hopkins cited the Cabell County school system for implementing some of the concepts in its Innovation Zone for high schools, but he said no one has addressed all the principles. Unless all the principles are used, he said, the result will not be what is desired.

When Stollings asked if other states have made such changes, Hopkins said some other states have picked up pieces, but none has implemented all of the principles.

Other legislators are skeptical.

Delegate Brady Paxton, D-Putnam, said Hopkins, D’Antoni and their colleagues have done a “yeoman’s job,” but he was skeptical because he has been through three other innovative programs to restructure the education system. One example he cited was having classrooms without walls, which he said did not work very well. Paxton said the current system works, but D’Antoni disagreed with him.

“Our world has changed into a technological world and we’re still delivering in a monosyllable when they’re listening to stereo. And we have to adapt.” – Kathy D’Antoni

“The current system is not working,” she said. “Dropouts are increasing exponentially. We are not graduating enough kids from college. Prison populations are growing…Our world has changed into a technological world and we’re still delivering in a monosyllable when they’re listening to stereo. And we have to adapt.”

D’Antoni said the eight principles would not change core tenets of education but rather the structure of how it’s delivered. Hopkins added that nothing will change for the top students, because they will still take the traditional college-prep courses and be successful. But he said the new principles would reach a large group in the middle, between the top students and the lowest-performing students. Not enough of those middle students are making the connections they need, he said. 

Hopkins also noted that realizing the vision behind the principles is dependent on the education system’s ability to craft and communicate student-focused policy and practice interventions that are purposeful, personalized and performance-based. But some lawmakers still quibbled with some of the premises of the proposals.

“The No. 1 reason for student dropouts is because they can. It’s not because they’re disengaged. I want to make that clear.” – Delegate David Walker

“The No. 1 reason for student dropouts is because they can,” Delegate David Walker, D-Clay, said. “It’s not because they’re disengaged. I want to make that clear. We tried to rectify that in the last session by raising the [dropout] age to 18, but we hit a wall and we got 17, but I still in my heart believe it should have been 18.”

Delegate Woody Ireland, R-Ritchie, said he was concerned about Principle IV, eliminating failure as an option.

“I wonder how that’s going to be implemented when we agree that failure is an option in our general society,” he said. “If you’re a failure, you still get Social Security, you still get SSI, you still food stamps, you still get whatever. There are many cases where that’s appropriate, but there are many cases when that’s not.”

Ireland also wanted to know whether the principles could be tested in a countywide Innovation Zone to work out the details before applying them statewide.

Hopkins said that could be done, and Innovation Zones in Cabell, Mercer and Braxton counties already were trying some of them. But he expressed concern that it would take too long to spread the principles to all 55 counties that way.

“We know that some of these things are absolutely critical,” Hopkins said. Then he added that the most important piece is to improve counseling for students.

“I think the longer we wait helping these students set goals, the more students we put in prison.” – Stan Hopkins

“It’s just not working,” Hopkins said, but giving kids a purpose can turn them around. “I think the longer we wait helping these students set goals, the more students we put in prison.”

In response, Ireland said, it seemed that Hopkins was proposing major surgery, “but then I kind of hear you backing up, saying, well, we don’t want to do the major surgery all at once. We want to do the major surgery a piece at a time. I guess what I would propose is: If we’re going to do major surgery, let’s do major surgery. Let’s get on with the program.”

Ireland said he would like to be able to move all the people who would otherwise fail and those in the middle up a notch or two.

“We have got to look at innovative, new ways of delivering this education system, because it is not working.” – Delegate Woody Ireland

“We need to be careful that we’re not in that rut, if you will, of saying we’ve done this before and it didn’t work,” he said. “We have got to look at innovative, new ways of delivering this education system, because it is not working.”

D’Antoni said the secondary education is doing many components of the principles in pieces, such as Techademics. But she said the whole set of principles must move forward, “because we are in trouble now.”

“The problem is that we are so policied to death with what we have to do, we cannot be flexible in time management to the point that it’s all predetermined and dictated under current policy.” – Delegate Stan Shaver

Delegate Stan Shaver, D-Preston, said he was concerned that it would be a top-down effort, but he thought it must start with students and teachers to be effective. He noted that the Legislature passed House Bill 4436 to let successful schools do more site-based management. However, he said the state Department of Education seems to think that bill was a fallacy and has refused to let schools know which programs are mandated and which ones are not.

“The problem is that we are so policied to death with what we have to do, we cannot be flexible in time management to the point that it’s all predetermined and dictated under current policy,” Shaver, who has been a school principal, said. “So in order for this to work, there has to be some flexibility with being able to change what’s currently in policy.”

Hopkins agreed that schools must have more flexibility. 

Lack of new teacher evaluation system disappoints legislative leader

By Jim Wallace

Senate Education Chairman Bob Plymale is upset with the West Virginia Department of Education for not coming up with a new system for evaluating teachers.

During Sunday’s meeting of the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability, he vented his displeasure on Amelia Courts, assistant state superintendent in the Division of Educator Quality and System Support. She told Plymale that the first phase of identifying the critical standards on which to measure teachers was about 90 percent finished, but other components are more difficult and will be affected by national research and federal government action.

Plymale, D-Wayne, said he thought the work was to have been completed last month. “Will we be at 2013 before we finish?” he asked.

“What we’re doing is delaying another year any action that needs to be done now. If we’re really looking at motivating students, empowering teachers, we’re just going to say, well, we’re going to delay that for a year.” – Senate Education Chairman Bob Plymale

Courts responded that several factors must be considered, such as who should be evaluated, how often evaluation should be done and who should conduct the evaluations. A peer assistance model was being considered, she said, but funding would be needed for it. Plymale said he was disappointed the work had not moved faster.

“What we’re doing is delaying another year any action that needs to be done now,” he said. “If we’re really looking at motivating students, empowering teachers, we’re just going to say, well, we’re going to delay that for a year.”

Plymale said he thought many applications for Innovation Zone projects are for actions that already should have been taken. So he didn’t like it that another action he considers an important step forward is being delayed.

“This is really disappointing to me, really disappointing that you’re no further along that you are right now and that you’re not making the progress that we were promised in May, June and July, when we were talking about this,” Plymale said.

Courts responded that the initial recommendations could be completed fairly quickly, “but the next phase of the work will have major implications in terms of funding and policy and state code changes that need to be made.”

Plymale reiterated that education officials said last spring that the work would be done by now. “Why can’t we meet those same kinds of deadlines that we were promised we would meet?” he asked.

“One thing you don’t want to establish is an evaluation system that is not reliable and based upon good assessment information.” – Amelia Courts

“One thing you don’t want to establish is an evaluation system that is not reliable and based upon good assessment information,” Courts replied. “And we will not even have what we call growth data until the administration of the WESTEST completes the first year of reliable growth data.”

When Courts said that the first phase, which is almost done, is not the difficult part, Plymale said he realized that. “The tough stuff is what we wanted to be done,” he said. “We’re back into the session, and we’re not going to have anything that goes to student progress.”

Plymale said former Gov. Bob Wise and others on the national level have been releasing many findings that the public school systems in West Virginia and other states are not performing as well as they should be.

“We can’t waste six months or eight months,” Plymale said. “We’ve got to get on this right away.”

Then he revealed he had some inside information about why the committee working on revising teacher evaluations had not done more by now. “I hear from people that are on that committee,” Plymale said. “They say it’s minutiae, it’s bogged down, and it is not effective the way that we are doing this, because you got the little easy things that are being done.”

“It is a very complex process, and we can’t bring forth an evaluation system that’s based upon data that’s not reliable or accurate.” – Deputy Supt. Jorea Marple

Courts said she would share Plymale’s concerns with the state school board.

In defense of Courts, Deputy Supt. Jorea Marple said, “It is a very complex process, and we can’t bring forth an evaluation system that’s based upon data that’s not reliable or accurate.” She said multiple measures of teachers’ performance with agreed-upon measures based in research are needed.

“We had exactly what we thought: a very poor system that didn’t evaluate and then do anything in performance evaluation,” Plymale responded. “I thought we would have made a lot more progress. I was really interested in looking at this, and I’m very disappointed in the fact that it isn’t going any further than it has. Personally, as a member of the Legislature, I want to see us move faster on this. This is something we may continue to take up.”

Courts noted that some states that have been using student growth data for as much as 50 percent of teacher evaluation are now backing off of that method. But Plymale said the Education Department should have told lawmakers sooner if they were not going to have a new evaluation system ready by now. 

One panel develops three bills

By Jim Wallace

Three proposed bills came out of Education Subcommittee C during legislative interim meetings, but the panel sent only two of them to the full Legislature with recommendations for passage.

Because of certain concerns about a bill dealing with the hiring of teachers, the subcommittee decided to send it on to the regular legislative session without a recommendation.

That bill would consolidate two sets of hiring criteria into one set and require all criteria to be given equal weight. It would allow for positions to be reposted when no more than one qualified candidate applies, add provisions for including a school’s faculty senate in the process when filling a professional or paraprofessional position, and allow a superintendent to recommend a prospective candidate to a school board on the condition the person meets certification, licensing, training and other requirements. Further, the bill would change the deadline for professional personnel, as well certain service personnel, to transfer positions from the fifth day prior to the beginning of the instructional term to July 15.

During the subcommittee’s last meeting on Monday, Delegate Josh Stowers, D-Lincoln, expressed concern about the provision requiring faculty senates to participate in interviews. He said it could be difficult to get such participation during the summer months. That led to the decision to send the bill to the full Legislature without the subcommittee’s recommendation.

One of the bills that did get the subcommittee’s recommendation would extend provisions that allow the employment of retired teachers as substitutes beyond the 140-day limit without penalty under certain conditions. Those provisions were scheduled to expire, but the bill would extend them until June 30, 2014.

The other bill getting a recommendation deals with tuition reimbursement for teachers who take courses both for certification renewal and additional endorsement in shortage areas. It would clarify that there is a 15-credit-hour lifetime limit for reimbursement and a six-credit-hour annual limit, but there is not lifetime limit on reimbursement for courses completed toward certification in shortage areas. 

OPEB bill should be ready soon

By Jim Wallace            

Legislators working on the OPEB – other post-employment benefits – problem were not able to come up with a bill to address the problem before the regular session of the Legislature began, but they hope to have one soon.

Most of the estimated $8 billion OPEB liability represents health care benefits promised to state employees, school employees and other public sector workers after their retirement. Like other states, West Virginia began recognizing its OPEB liability a few years ago after the General Accounting Standards Board began requiring accounting for retiree health care on an accrual basis rather on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Because of a decision the Legislature made a few years ago, about 40 percent to 45 percent of the OPEB liability has been assigned to county school boards. The school boards have objected to having to carry that liability on their books and have been hoping the Legislature would reverse that decision, which is a possibility. The school boards contend that the state is responsible for promising subsidized health care benefits to current and future public sector retirees and that most of the funding for school employees’ salaries comes from the School Aid Formula.

“Our goal is to prepare draft legislation that we can run simultaneously in the House and the Senate.” – Sen. Brooks McCabe

One of the chairmen of Finance Subcommittee C, Sen. Brooks McCabe, said Monday that staff members were working hard to incorporate several recommendations into legislation but ran out of time before the beginning of the regular, 60-day session. But he said they would keep working.

“Our goal is to prepare draft legislation that we can run simultaneously in the House and the Senate,” McCabe, D-Kanawha, said. “By the time it’s presented, we hope to have most of the recommendations worked out and have something that we actually hope to see passed.”

The proposed bill should be ready for introduction within the first two weeks of the legislative session, he said.

McCabe also shared with subcommittee members a new report from the West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy. That report says the OPEB liability is not a crisis “but rather a manageable concern.” It concludes that the Legislature can find solutions that “do not involve pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into a trust fund and freezing spending on other needed programs and services that benefit hundreds of thousands of West Virginians.”

Outside of the subcommittee meeting, McCabe said he did not agree with the reports conclusions, but during the meeting, he merely passed the report along to members without comment.

Editor’s Note: -- Jim Wallace is a former government reporter for the Charleston Daily Mail and former news director of West Virginia Public Radio. He now works for TSG Consulting in Charleston and writes for several national and West Virginia publications.

Much is up in the air for the legislative session

By Martha Dean, Ed.D.

This year’s legislative session is beginning with a great deal of uncertainty:

• It is uncertain whether or not the state Constitution would require an election for the office of governor prior to 2012 when primary and general elections are to be held. Of course, the position became vacant when then Gov. Joe Manchin was elected to the U.S. Senate to fill the seat of the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd.
• It is uncertain whether the $800 “bonus” offered to teachers is enough and whether it is expected to be sustained in future years with tax increases or increased revenue due to coal or natural gas production.
• It is uncertain whether the selection of Sen. Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall, as acting Senate president will be sustained by the courts if there is a legal challenge. 
• It is uncertain who will be representing the interests of Logan County citizens in the Senate given the fact that acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin is serving both as Senate President and senator from the Seventh Senatorial District. 
• It is uncertain as to which pieces of legislation, after having been introduced, will make it through both chambers and obtain the governor’s signature to become law. The number of individuals currently serving in the Legislature (or other positions in state government) having expressed interest in becoming the next elected governor will create a situation that definitely will distract some from their work. This situation may make for a year when not as many laws as usual are passed during the session.

The West Virginia Association of School Administrators has set four priorities for this legislative session.  They are:

• WVASA encourages the governor and Legislature to develop a solution to the Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) problem by removing the liability from local boards of education and establishing a long-term plan for resolution.
• WVASA encourages the Legislature to provide for the immediate release of federal Education Jobs Funds to local boards of education in order that county boards may expedite the process of hiring educational personnel.
• WVASA encourages the governor and the Legislature to continue support for Regional Education Service Agencies and to restore RESA funding to previous levels.
• WVASA encourages the governor and Legislature to address hiring requirements found under §18A-4-7a with regard to hiring factors and the ability to repost for positions under certain circumstances.

As I listened to the governor’s speech Wednesday night, it struck me that the contents were standard fare in comparison to previous year’s speeches. The governor recognized outstanding contributions of several individuals and indicated that we all need to work together to make West Virginia the best it can be in many ways. His proposal to offer teachers an $800 enhancement instead of a pay raise will certainly meet with some opposition. During the speech, he did not indicate the amount of the enhancement for service personnel and state workers, only that he is proposing one. When he mentioned that this would not add to the budget, I wondered if his proposal would send the money to pay for Social Security and retirement costs on that $800.  We all need to review the bill and make sure the costs don’t have to come out of local funds.

I appreciated the fact that, in his speech, he mentioned that he has only three priorities for this year. They are: to continue to improve the business climate to attract and maintain good jobs; to improve education system; and to simplify government to make it more efficient to benefit people of the state. 

His efforts in education will be focused on developing a world-class education system.  He expressed a need to refocus emphasis on an environment where children get the skills needed to be successful in life.  He mentioned the high cost of education and said we don’t need to break the bank but break the mold.

We in West Virginia need to decrease the number of both high school and college dropouts. There is a need to recruit good teachers.

I am sure that former State Superintendent of Schools Steve Paine was happy to hear Tomblin mention developing 21^st century skills.  He recognized that teachers deserve higher salary, but then made the $800 enhancement proposal.

The governor’s speech will be discussed many times as the Legislature begins work on the laws needed to make goals become reality. We will all be watching to see what actually occurs.

Legislative committee make-ups are available online

The memberships of legislative committees have changed and are available on the Legislature’s website.

New lawmakers have been added to committees and many veteran members have shifted committee assignments. Some committees, especially in the Senate, have new chairpersons and vice chairpersons.

For Senate committees, go to: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/committees/senate/main.cfm.

For the House of Delegates committees, go to: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/committees/house/main.cfm.

The Legislature's website address is http://www.legis.state.wv.us/. 

2011 LEGISLATIVE CALENDAR

Source: West Virginia Legislature

http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bulletin_Board/calendar_2011.cfm

Martha Dean is executive director of the West Virginia Association of School Administrators.

Bible study is available at state Capitol

By Tim Pauley

Capitol Commission seeks to serve and minister to all those working in the Capitol community.  One of the ways we seek to do this is by providing weekly Bible studies for legislators, elected officials, lobbyists, and staff serving in the Capitol. Such leaders often receive complaints, protests, and arguments. Capitol Commission seeks to provide encouragement and spiritual counsel.

Along with our Bible studies for legislators and elected officials, we will hold a study for lobbyists and staff each week during the regular legislative session. It will be held each Tuesday at noon in the Treasurer's Conference Room (EB 54 in the basement of the east wing) beginning on January 18. Please join us for the study if you have the opportunity.

This session we will be studying "Citizens of Heaven: Studies in Philippians." Throughout this series on Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi, we will consider how as “citizens of heaven” we can live and serve in the challenging circumstances of our daily lives here on earth.

Copies of our study notes will be distributed each week. If you would like to receive a copy, please drop me an e-mail and I will add you to our e-mail list (tim.pauley@capitolcom.org).

If you have questions regarding our ministry or our upcoming studies, please contact me:

Phone: 304.767.8430

Email: tim.pauley@capitolcom.org

Web site: www.capitolcom.org
Tim Pauley is state director of Capitol Commission West Virginia.