Wood BOE makes finance department changes | News, Sports, Jobs

(Photo by Douglass Huxley)Stephanie Cunningham, certification and teaching licensure administrator, front, and John Merritt, assistant superintendent of human resources, speak to the Wood County Board of Education about staffing updates for the 2023-2024 school year during their regular meeting Tuesday night.

PARKERSBURG — The Wood County Board of Education is adding to its finance department as they voted to change the title of one position, create another and reinstate a third.

Director of Finance Justin Bosley spoke to the board about the needs the department is facing. He said his staff is facing an overwhelming workload with over 50 projects the department has started since April.

“I care deeply about my staff,” Bosley said. “And them coming to me missing out on family events, or not being able to have time with their children at night, is near and dear to my heart. It’s really important to me that we focus on that, especially heading into the bond, and such.”

Superintendent Christie Willis said during the her update that the district has published its first of two Class II legal advertisements and would continue to keep the public updated as the bond process advances. Bosley said the ARP ESSER Funds and the upcoming bonds are important aspects of the finance department.

“I really want to focus on the amount of workload that goes into it,” Bosley said.

(Photo by Douglass Huxley)Justin Bosley, director of finance, spoke to the Wood County Board of Education Tuesday night about the challenges his department is facing and the need for new positions.

During the consent agenda the board approved the creation of a professional accountant, to change the position of Secretary III/Auditor/Buyer to Secretary III/Accountant III and to reinstate the position of the Assistant Director of Finance to help assist the finance department. The board also approved a number of other personnel and financial matter during the consent agenda. A full list can be found in the online version of this story at newsandsentinel.com.

The board also heard presentations about ADA Facilities Compliance Report by Chris Mancuso from Pickering Associates, and a staffing and policy update from John Merritt, assistant superintendent of human resources, and Stephanie Cunningham, certification and teaching licensure administrator.

Cunningham said there are 57 professional positions open, there are 57 new hires and 108 transfers. Merritt said there are about 200 service personnel who are new or have transferred with about 40 open positions. That included nine cooks, 11 custodians, 13 aides, four bus drivers and two secretary positions.

“I feel very confident that the cooks, and the custodians, and the secretary jobs will be filled,” Merritt said. “It’s just a matter of testing.” Merritt ended by saying no one would walk into an empty class at the beginning of the school year. The board recognized many individuals as Wood County Schools Heroes for their efforts to clean up water the first week of August after a recent accident at Parkersburg High School saw the sprinklers damage the auditorium and then storms in the area caused more damage at schools in the county. A full list of those recognized can be found in the online version of this story.

The board named Sonya Ashby for the appointment to the Parkersburg and Wood County Public Library Board with a 3-2 vote. Justin Raber and Debbie Hendershot voted no to the appointment.

(Photo by Douglass Huxley) From left, Kelley Ray, Whitny Gesell, Jennifer Martin, Lisa Hartley, Kathy Conrad, Stacy Hunt and Teresa Abbott were recognized as Wood County Schools Heroes for their help to assess the damage and begin working after spinklers were triggered at the Parkersburg High School auditorium on Aug. 6.

According to Ashby’s resume she was a teacher at the Stem Academy for the 2022-2023 school year, is the graphic arts instructor at PHS this year, and spent seven years as the librarian at Lubeck Elementary.

The next regular meeting of the Wood County Board of Education will be Sept. 12 at 6 p.m. at the corner of Plum and 13th streets in Parkersburg. The meeting is open to the public and will be streamed online.

On Aug. 6 Parkersburg High School auditorium had sprinklers triggered. On Sunday evening many employees who work at PHS arrived to assess the damage and begin working.

Officer Jeremy Bell, Parkersburg Police Department

Chris Way, Athletic Director

Kelley Ray, Assistant Principal

Whitny Gesell, Assistant Principal

Jennifer Martin, Head Custodian

Lisa Hartley, Custodian

Kathy Conrad, Custodian

Ethan Martin, Custodian

Stacy Hunt, Custodian

Teresa Abbott, Custodian

On Aug. 7 Steve Reiner, teacher at PHS, and his son, Jake, were working to save the equipment in the robotics room.

Steve Reiner, Teacher

Jake Reiner

Worked to keep water out of the Jack Stephens gymnasium, the ROTC classrooms, and the Field House on Aug. 7.

Linda Daugherty, Custodian

Daniel Fuenty, Custodian

Robert Jenkins, Custodian

Ed Perine, Custodian

Larry Shepard, Custodian

Ben Badgely, Custodian

Jennifer Martin, Head Custodian

Stacy Hunt, Custodian

Brian Drake, Drake Construction

Cleaned up the water Annex at PHS

Bradlee Allen

Cyrus Backus

Eli Bauman

Jake Bauman

Tyler Cameron

DJ Chambless

Rudy Colombo

Austin Craven

Craig Deem

Thomas Finnicum

Bryan Gregory

Braxton Kupfner

Caleb Norman

Cole Sisk

Carter Smith

Matthew Stalnaker

Casey Stanley

Carter Watts

Jason Williams

Matt Kimes, Head Football Coach

Zach Nolan, Coach

Dan Lott, Coach

Richard Farley, Coach

D. J. Carozza, Coach

Tom Harvey, Coach

Brandon Gregory, Coach

Tim Bauman

AJ Nolan

Shawn Craven

Amanda Whitt

Jason Kupfner

Adam Goudy – Guard Restoration

On Aug. 7 heavy rains and storms created water issues in some of the county’s schools. The WCS Heroes worked clean up water and save WCS property which prevented further damage and destruction.

Blennerhassett Elementary

Tara Swiger, Assistant Principal

Lubeck Elementary

Sheila McPherson, Secretary

Dave Moore, Custodian

Bill Schmidt, Custodian

Bo Cox, Substitute Custodian

Jonathan Farley, Director of Technology

Jillian Farley

Bronson Farley

Reagan Farley

Parkersburg South High School

Ron McConnell, Custodian

Damon Sampson, Custodian

Kelly Anthony, Custodian

Steve Wells, Custodian

Items approved during the consent agenda:

∫ Cooperative Strategies Contract not to exceed $50,000

∫ CMTA Pay App 32 in the amount of $132,534.13

∫ Change Order #1 from Phoenix Associates, Inc., to extend the completion date of WCS Refrigeration Warehouse repairs to Dec. 29, 2023, due to material lead times

∫ AFL-CIO Appalachian Head Start Contract for collaborative Pre-K Services – sharing of costs for classrooms for 2023-2024 school year

∫ Reinstatement of the position of the Assistant Director of Finance

∫ To create a new position, Professional Accountant

∫ To change the position of Secretary III/Auditor/Buyer to Secretary III/Accountant III

∫ Edison Middle School HVAC Renovations for change order to extend substantial completion date to Oct. 6, 2023. (no charge)

∫ Murray Sheet Metal, Inc., be awarded the Martin Elementary School HVAC contract in the amount of $2,170,378.00 (includes Base Bids & Alternate 1)

∫ Inspire Learning Environment Planning, LLC., for Educational Specifications (Ed Specs) for three new elementary schools for programming education specifications at a cost of $39,800