MINUTES

WEST VIRGINIA BOARD OF EDUCATION

Board Conference Room

Capitol Building 6, Room 353

1900 Kanawha Boulevard, East

Charleston, West Virginia

September 14, 2005

I.

President Lowell E. Johnson called the meeting of the West Virginia Board of Education (WVBE) to order at 12:30 p.m. on September 14, 2005, in Capitol Building 6, Room 353, 1900 Kanawha Boulevard, East, Charleston, West Virginia.

The following members were present: President Johnson, Vice President Delores W. Cook, Secretary Priscilla M. Haden, Sandra M. Chapman, Barbara N. Fish, Sheila M. Hamilton, Burma Hatfield, Ronald B. Spencer, and Jenny N. Phillips, and ex officios Steven L. Paine, State Superintendent of Schools, and J. Michael Mullen, Chancellor, the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission. Member absent was ex officio James L. Skidmore, Chancellor, the West Virginia Council for Community and Technical College Education.

II.

Upon motion by Mrs. Fish, seconded by Mrs. Hamilton, the Board unanimously approved the agenda with the following modification: President Johnson removed item X. WESTELL Assessment Results for Limited English Proficient Students from the agenda.

III.

Dr. Kenna R. Seal, Director, Office of Education Performance Audits (OEPA), distributed and presented an amended School Accreditation Summary for the Board's consideration. The WVBE annually reviews the performance data for schools and issues an accreditation status to each West Virginia public school. The School Accreditation Summary lists schools below the performance standards. Performance data reveal that 98 schools in 39 county school districts failed to achieve the Annual Performance Measures for Accountability.

Upon recommendation of Dr. Seal and a motion by Ms. Phillips, seconded by Ms. Haden, the Board unanimously issued Temporary Accreditation status, Conditional Accreditation status, and Seriously Impaired status to the schools as listed in the amended School Accreditation Summary. (Copy appended to Official Minutes, Attachment A and addendum.)

IV.

Dr. Karen Huffman, Executive Director, Office of Professional Preparation, Division of Administrative Services, Dr. Patricia S. Kusimo (distributed information), Chief Executive Office, West Virginia Center for Professional Development, and Ms. Karen Linville, Program Coordinator, West Virginia Center for Professional Development, addressed the Board regarding W. Va. Code and WVBE policy requirements for mentoring programs. At its July 2005 meeting the West Virginia Commission for Professional Teaching Standards recommended that the WVBE request a study to be conducted of the Beginning Educator Internship Program and that a statewide stakeholder group be convened to address the effectiveness of this program.

Upon motion by Mrs. Fish, seconded by Ms. Chapman, the Board unanimously approved the convening of a study group that will assess the effectiveness of mentoring programs and provide a report to the Board. (Copy appended to Official Minutes, Attachment B and addendum.)

V.

Mr. Keith Butcher, Executive Director, Office of Instructional Services, Division of Instructional and Student Services, presented Policy 2510 for the Board's consideration. Ms. Julia Lee, Coordinator, addressed the Board regarding the arts. (Copy appended to the Official Minutes of September 15, 2005 at Attachment G.)

VI.

Dr. Jack McClanahan, Deputy State Superintendent of Schools, addressed the Board regarding cost estimates received on September 13 that may affect the policy and requested that the policy be pulled from the September 14 and September 15 agendas. Mrs. Fish requested that only corrections or changes to the policy be provided to members when the policy is next presented for action. (Copy appended at the end of the Official Minutes of September 15, 2005.)

Dr. McClanahan also distributed and discussed a proposed addition to the September 15 Consent Agenda at item B.4. Waivers of State Board of Education Policies and Regulations, Superintendent's Interpretations and State Statutes and Legislative Rule. (Copy appended to Official Minutes, Attachment D.)

VII.

Dr. Jan Barth, Executive Director, Office of Student Assessment, Division of School Improvement Services, presented an overview of the Federal Review Response Plan. The Plan was developed in order to achieve full federal compliance with the United States Department of Education (USDE). West Virginia will maintain its current Federal Approval status by 1) articulating and submitting the Plan to the USDE, and 2) successfully implementing the Plan within the required timeframe. (Copy appended to Official Minutes, Attachment E.)

Chancellor Mullen joined the meeting.

VIII.

Dr. Lynn Boyer, Executive Director, Office of Special Education, Division of Instructional and Student Services, presented Policy 2520.16 for the Board's consideration. (Copy appended to Official Minutes of September 15, 2005 at Attachment H.)

IX.

Ms. Terry Reale, Coordinator, Division of Instructional and Student Services, presented an overview of West Virginia Writes: Writing to Learn and Learning to Write. West Virginia Writes is a statewide professional development plan for Regional Education Service Agencies (RESA), administrators, and teachers in the core areas of process writing, writing rubrics/ assessments, content area writing, on-demand writing, and writing in higher education. With the research-based practices on effective writing, teachers can design writing instruction that will address the needs of a more diverse student population. The plan is aligned with The Framework for High Performing Schools and the West Virginia Content Standards and Objectives which share the common belief of writing in and out of the classroom as a way of closing the achievement gap and bringing all students to mastery. (Copy appended to Official Minutes, Attachment F.)

X.

President Johnson called for a break at 1:50 p.m.

XI.

President Johnson called the meeting back to order at 2:05 p.m.

XII.

Ms. Beverly Kingery, Coordinator, Division of Instructional and Student Services, provided an overview of DIBELS. DIBELS is a set of assessment measurements that measure the five essential components of K-3 reading and emphasizes prevention and intervention to address potential reading difficulties in students. (Copy appended to Official Minutes, Attachment G.)

XIII.

Ms. Nancy Walker, Executive Director, West Virginia Education Information System, presented information regarding how the graduation rate is calculated. (Copy appended to Official Minutes, Attachment H.)

Mrs. Hamilton departed the meeting.

XIV.

Mr. Butcher presented an overview of proposed general guidelines for the Veteran's Honors Funeral Assistant Community Service Program, created by W. Va. Code §18-2E-8e, that encourages capable young people to assist with the sounding of Taps at military funerals honoring veterans. House Bill 2286 (2005) charged the WVBE to develop general program guidelines. One amendment to the guidelines was requested clarifying the entity providing payment to students. (Copy appended to Official Minutes, Attachment I.)

XV.

Dr. Jack McClanahan, Deputy State Superintendent of Schools, addressed the Board and recommended the identification of a review team to examine the progress in the implementation of the Improvement Consultant Team recommendations in RESA VIII.

Upon motion by Mrs. Cook, seconded by Ms. Phillips, the Board unanimously directed the State Superintendent of Schools to appoint a three member Review Team to assess the progress of RESA VIII in implementing the recommendations of the Improvement Consultant Team with a report to be presented to the WVBE at the October meeting.

XVI.

President Johnson called for a break at 3:15 p.m.

XVII.

President Johnson called the meeting back to order at 3:20 p.m.

XVIII.

Upon motion by Ms. Phillips, seconded by Ms. Chapman, the Board unanimously moved into Executive Session at 3:30 p.m. in accordance with W. Va. Code W. Va. Code §6-9A-3 for a legal matter involving attorney-client privilege, §6-9A-4(b)(2)(A) for a personnel matter, and §18-2E-5(k)(1), to discuss the selection of schools for Education Performance Audits.

XIX.

The Board returned from Executive Session at 4:29 p.m. at which time President Johnson announced that no action was taken and no decisions were made.

XX.

The next regular meeting of the Board will be held September 15, 2005 in Charleston, West Virginia.

XXI.

Upon motion by Ms. Hatfield, seconded by Ms. Chapman and unanimously carried, the meeting adjourned at 4:30 p.m.

Minutes approved by the Board on October 12, 2005.

___________________________________________

Lowell E. Johnson, President

___________________________________________

Priscilla M. Haden, Secretary

Minutes were recorded by

Virginia M. Harris

Executive Secretary to

the Board.

wvbeminutes9/14/05:30a