By Gary Lee Stuber
All Clay County School Board members were present at the latest Board of Education meeting when Jared Fitzwater gave the Director’s Report on the status of electric busses in Clay County. Right now Clay is operating one all electric bus, a Nano-Beast, built in South Charleston by the Green Power Motor Company. It is a California-based company opened in West Virginia to meet the electric bus needs of the West Virginia school system. It has a seating capacity of 24 passengers and can go 140 miles before recharging, which Jared said is accomplished between runs.
The State of West Virginia is picking up the cost of one new vehicle and the federal government is paying for three more. They will be regular Beast busses. They will transport up to 90 passengers and a bus driver each.
Jared assured the board this was a good deal as it costs the school system nothing. Well, not nothing, as Board Member Susan Bodkins noted that they would cost the county in a higher electric bill. There is not adequate data to know if the cost would be any more than gasoline, and the busses would have to be pretty much run on roads with fewer curves than typically found on secondary roads, because they are longer and require a larger turn radius. But these would mostly be used on Clay County’s main highways and be charged between runs. They have a 195 mile range. It would require an additional charging station which is in the works. Considering that many of Clay’s present busses are aging, Fitzwater suggested this is a good time to get electric vehicles presently paid in full by the government.
The night’s longest presentation was by Superintendent Philip Dobbins, who presented to the board his new proposed Organizational Chart for next school year. The old chart had five directors and he eliminated two of these, proposing a new director to bring it to a total of four directors. This means that the duties of one position eliminated would have to be absorbed by the other remaining four. Moreover, the organization of each was rearranged so it was largely different than this year. He asked for the Board’s consideration. This was Susan Bodkins’ night as she introduced a number of questions and concerns. The biggest being that Special Education was under one director, who seemed to her to have too many other responsibilities. She gave a short history of dealing with parents who had special needs children, and was concerned that if anything was not met adequately they would be open to lawsuits. The question and answer period on this section took well over an hour. Twice, outgoing Special Education Director Eric Legg was brought to the podium to explain what his present duties were and if having a secretary dedicated to helping was enough. In the end, Superintendent
Dobbins assured the board and Susan in particular that the board had asked him to do this reorganization, that they had job requests out looking for the proper person to fill this job, who would be the only director to have his own full time secretary assigned to him. Then said, “I wouldn’t have made this recommendation if I didn’t feel confident I could find the proper person to fill this job. You trusted me to create this, trust me to complete it.” In the end all board members including Susan trusted him enough to vote yes on the proposed chart. Following this, they also voted yes to terminate the two old director positions and create a new one just as the chart will fulfill.”
The board voted to accept the resignation of McKenzie Osborne as Assistant Cheer Coach at Clay County Middle School. They approved the employment of Amanda R. Price as Health Nurse Education/Teacher at Clay County High School; Beckey Barss as Special Education Transportation Aide – Extracurricular Contract; Rikki Taylor as Extra-Mile Grant – Food Box Delivery; and Andrew Belt as Substitute Teacher.
The next regular meeting for the Board of Education is scheduled for May 28, 2024 at 6 p.m. at Clay County High School. High School Graduation will be held on May 18 at 10 a.m., and there will be a special board meeting, likely on May 15, following the closing of the Primary polls on May 14 to check on the status of the School and Library Levy’s and what direction to proceed.
