HANCOCK CO. BOE Meets Clara, the Therapy Dog

The Hancock County Board of Education had the opportunity to meet Clara, Weir High School’s therapy dog at its Dec. 15 meeting. Angela Myers, Clara’s handler, described the process the school had gone through to acquire Clara. First Lady of West Virginia, Cathy Justice, has made acquiring therapy dogs for schools one of her project and school officials worked with the Governor’s office for the application process which began in 2022. Myers said Kristen Bowman-Cross had worked on the project for the past two years to make sure all the requirements were met. Clara has a host home where she stays at nights and on the weekends. Hilltop Veterinarians provides health care at no cost for Clara as does a groomer. Myers said Clara begins every school day with Bowman-Cross greeting each student as they enter the school.

The Board heard a proposal from Mike Orbavich and Mike Florak of Windfall Inc. The business works with the schools to review financial information with vendors to identify any errors or inconsistencies. The company is also identifies funds that can be used for fundraising. The services incur no cost to the Board. The Board voted 5-0 to contract with Windfall for its services.

In other business, the Board:

**Approved a proposal for Weir High to form a Ski Club;

**Hired Luis Neer as a countywide substitute teacher;

**Transferred Brian Mihalyo from a countywide substitute teacher to Multi-Categorical/Autism at Allison Elementary;

**Accepted the resignation of Megan Dziadyk as Assistant Girls’ Track Coach at Weir Middle;

**Transferred Raymond Case from Asst. Girls’ Basketball Coach at Weir High (unpaid- volunteer) to Asst. Girls’ Basketball Coach at Weir High;

**Approved George Martich as Asst. Boys; Track (unpaid-volunteer);

**Transferred Jodi Davis from Bus Operator #131 to Bus Operator #234; Rebecca Colaher from Bus Operator #139 to Bus Operator #102; Mike Ludovici from Bus Operator #207 to Bus Operator #229 and Doug Allison from Bus Operator #208 to Bus Operator #143;

**Assigned Melinda E. Woodland to Supervisory Aide II-IV/AM at Weir High School;

**Accepted the resignation of Ronald Heacock as Cook II, Allison Elementary;

**Assignments were approved for Betty J. Mrozek, Custodian II, New Manchester Elementary/Transportation and John C. Airhart, Bus Operator #207;

**Approved as substitute service personnel were Ronald Lesky, Substitute Bus Operator and Gary Long, General Maintenance/Groundsman;

**Administrative release was approved for Raymond Mostowski, substitute custodian/ Food Truck Driver;

**The Travel Reimbursement Policy (DKCA) was approved to out for 30-day comment;

**The Board will meet again for its regular meeting on January 13, 2025