The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

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November 21, 2009

Fayette schools to be reviewed by OEPA

By Michelle James

The state of Fayette County schools will be assessed in the near future with a visit from a team with the state Office of Educational Performance Audits, said Dr. Kenna Seal, OEPA executive director.

It is an important visit. In 2007, the state Board of Education called for a state of emergency and then placed Fayette schools on non-approval status, the result of previous OEPA audits and recommendations.

Based on improvements, the county was upgraded to conditional accreditation in February, and it was given until Oct. 31 to correct and resolve lingering and new issues of noncompliance.

The February OEPA report cited personnel evaluation problems, financial irregularities, school facilities, overall student achievement and graduation rates among the non-compliances.

Seal says the team from his office will visit schools with “lingering issues” and will mostly follow up on areas with previously identified problems.

“We’ll look at their strategic plan and see what they’ve been doing, what they’ve accomplished and what their goals are,” he said. “We’ll look at some of the areas we’ve reviewed before and see what progress they’ve made.”

Seal says his office will try to have the audit findings to the state board within 45 days of the visit.

The board, Seal says, will then decide what action to take.

“The state board has a lot of discretion (and) I couldn’t anticipate what that (action) would be,” he said, adding some of the possibilities are to award full accreditation, conditional accreditation or non-approval.

“Non-approvals, over time, could lead to an intervention,” he continued, explaining the state has the authority to take over a county school system. “That’s never a goal of ours to do that, but sometimes it becomes necessary.

“Hopefully, they’re making progress.”

Fayette Schools Superintendent Chris Perkins could not be reached for comment.

— E-mail: mjames@register-herald.com

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