Long-time Chief Financial Officer of the Hancock County Schools, Joe Campinelli, was terminated at Monday’s Board of Education meeting. The Board voted 4-0 to ratify administrative leave (suspension) and to terminate Campanelli. Board member Jack Crow was absent from the meeting.
Superintendent Dan Enich cited problems with late audited financial reports for the State Board of Education for the past years. He said the county school system ran at a deficit for the 24/25 school year and among the issues was $978,000 in grant funding not being drawn down.
The County has contracted with Jeff Davis, who recently retired as CFO of Tyler County and is now heading Educational Assistance, LLC, to work with the County’s financial department to delve into the financial and accounting. Enich said Davis will be working with staff to rebuild financial reports. On Thursday the Board will have a special meeting to name an interim treasurer.
Enich listed the following cost- cutting measures which will take effect immediately:
**Postponing spending of $1.3 million on i-pads
**Analyzing contracts for all vendors
**Change BOE agenda to reflect purchases in excess of $5,000
**Negotiate with Imagine Learning to reduce expense of $100,000 per year
**Cutting the Creative Cloud expense from $19,000
**Postponing the OGHS weight room for the time being
**Cutting the NEOLA issue from this year’s budget
**Incorporating Windfall for cost-cutting purposes;
**Looking at the cost-effectiveness of having the ALC for over 10 years;
**Most important, looking at personnel cuts
Those cuts will include administrative, school service personnel and teachers. The county had not adjusted to the formula which allots funding for each student despite declining enrollment for the past ten years.
Enich stressed that the cuts provide some savings, but not enough to overcome the deficit. He said the administration has extended the timeline for school closures and consolidations to 2/27/26. He stressed that the administration is looking at possible school closures to help eliminate costs and balance the budget.
“I want to stress that this current situation as being in a financial hole and we have addressed it to the point of stop digging it deeper,” said Enich.
The Hancock County School System has been labeled as “needing assistance” by the WV Department of Education. Enich said officials from the State Board have been on site working with the county administration for the past month. The State Board of Education does have the power to step in and take over a school district if the conditions are deemed critical. Currently six school districts in the State have been taken over.
