The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Local News

October 28, 2008

Raleigh school board will not recommend bond for this year

State of the economy cited as a factor

By Jackie Ayres

The Raleigh County Board of Education officially announced Tuesday night that it was putting a bond issue on the back burner.

As previously reported, the board determined there wasn’t sufficient time to efficiently propose a bond issue.

The board referred to the state of the economy and lack of time to develop a well-thought-out comprehensive analysis of all facilities as factors for withholding the bond recommendation.

According to board president Richard Snuffer, the state School Board Authority suggested that if the county waited a year on the proposed bond, it would receive a 2-to-1 match on its money.

Snuffer says this extra money will mean “a whole lot more you can do in this county.”

“We want to remind the citizens of Raleigh County that there’s still a lot of needs out there, still a lot of things we would like to do,” he said.

Snuffer explained the board wants to create a comprehensive plan that will effectively cover all the future needs of Raleigh County.

“With the way the economic times are right now, we’re going to get ourselves all in a row and be ready to go forward... hopefully in a year or a little after that with a really good bond package,” he said.

Deborah Gallaher, a teacher at Shady Spring High School, was honored at the meeting for receiving the National Council for Geographic Education’s Distinguished Teaching Award.

Gallaher was one of 12 high school teachers in North America selected to receive the award this year.

In other business, the board:

n Upheld the superintendent’s recommendation to suspend a teacher at Shady Spring High School and a custodian at Liberty High School.

n Voted to approve an agreement with New River Community and Technical College for clinical experience for pre-service teacher candidates.

The board will meet again at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 10.

— E-mail: jayres@register-herald.com

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