It was standing room only when the Hancock County Board of Education met Monday night. Concerned teachers from Allison Elementary were in attendance to convey their dissatisfaction at the lack of transparency they believe the Administration has demonstrated during the current financial crisis. A letter last week to the State Board of Education from Superintendent Dan Enich relayed the County would not be able to make payroll Jan. 19 without an influx of $478,000.00. The letter was “leaked” to teachers who had not been copied in on the correspondence.
Teachers at Allison Elementary (ATA) had met Friday to consider a vote of NO Confidence in Enich and the Board. Enich was made aware of the vote and showed up at the school to answer questions. The vote of no confidence was not taken. A vote of NO Confidence was taken at Oak Glen Middle School prior to the Christmas break.
Marcy Dunn, Faculty Senate president at ATA, told the Board she was alarmed by the lack of transparency (regarding the financial crisis) and disheartened by the lack of professional courtesy shown employees.
She said over the holidays, employees were wondering ” what do we do if we don’t get our paychecks?” She noted that would impact retirement, health insurance, savings, etc.
Samantha Larrick, parent of a student at New Manchester Elementary, said the administration needed to stop blaming the situation on other administrations that they claim caused them to be 143 employees over the State Formula.
“Stop trying to pass the buck. Stop trying to say it’s not your fault, it was previous administrations.”
Enich thank the group for coming and stressed that when he is able to provide correct information he would do so.
He said he had a zoom meeting with the State Board of Education officials Tuesday at 9 a.m. (An attempt by Hometown News to listen in on the Zoom meeting, was refused by Enich. It is my understanding that under the Freedom of Information Act, the press should be permitted to do so. Enich called the Hancock County Board’s attorney and said Freedom of Information Act did not apply since it was just him talking to the Board.)
Jeff Davis, educational consultant, who has been working on the financials since October, will be at the Board’s January 26th meeting to provide a report on the findings.
In a separate agenda item, the Board approved hiring the law firm of Frankovitch, Anetakis,, Simon, Pearl and DeCapio. The Board also employs Attorney David Cross of Wellsburg and Bowles Rice of Charleston. Enich said that Frankovitch will work on a contingency basis
