……..I think all of Hancock County was in a state of shock Friday when the State School Board President Paul Hardesty received a unanimous vote to take over the Hancock County Schools. I know I was. It was almost as if I wanted to say, “Wait, we’re Hancock County. We don’t have this type of thing happen.”
……..But it did. And, the more we find out, the more we understand why it did. I’ve sat through Board meetings since September and learned of the deficit; heard about the overage in staff that was costing us $10 million a year; and marveled that all the time we were spending money hand over fist on new sports complex additions. You would have thought the Superintendent would have very quickly owned up to the mismanagement and pointed the figure directly at CFO Joe Campinelli. Instead, the situation was treated like a big secret that we as the press and the public should not have been probing.
….. I spent a 20 years in public relations posts at Mountaineer Racetrack & Gaming Resort and West Virginia Northern Community College, and I told a colleague that this was the worst job of managing a crisis I’d ever seen. There was no transparency, you had to dig to find out how deep the crisis ran and the infractions of State law leaked out by dribs and drabs, each worse then the one before. Is it any wonder trust had left the room and I had turned into Nancy Drew as I sought out information. Superintendent Enich mentioned he had a Tuesday meeting with the State by Zoom last week and when I inquired the code to call in, I was told I wasn’t permitted to listen. When I invoked the Freedom of Information act, Enich made a call to his attorney and I was told it didn’t apply in this situation and I was out. I knew then that something was terribly amiss.
…….The tone of the Emergency Board meeting was brutal. President Paul Hardesty was visibly angry about the situation and contemptuous of those who let it occur. Those who were close to the situation tell me that the night before indications were that the State was not going to take over the school district. Del. Pat McGeehan is honing the language of his legislation to provide a funding source for distressed schools. It is expected to be introduced this week.
…….There is also legislation Hardesty is promoting that deals with the school funding formula for students. Another bill would take the 55 school districts and cut them in half. There would be a Hancock/Brooke school district with one Board and one superintendent.
……..This is not only a tragedy, but we still haven’t had our questions answered. Whomever is responsible needs to be held accountable and if they have broken the law, prosecuted. Hardesty marveled at how Hancock County had a clean audit for three years, He said he wants to talk to the accounting firm(s) in Charleston. I found out there are two, Sutter & Stalnaker prepared the financial report and Tetrick and Bartlett did the audit. Going through two years of Board minutes, there is no mention of the Board approving the hiring of the firms; of the Board being presented with audits; and the Board voting to accept the audit. All of the above should have been done and I’m flummoxed that they weren’t.
……There’s the question of those individuals in position of power and companies hired posting bonds from which we should be able to recover money. . Joe Campanelli was bonded and we should be able to recover money from that bond. The accounting firms were, I’m sure bonded. I’m submitting a Freedom of Information Act request to the new Superintendent on Monday asking for “complete and accurate copies of all bonds maintained in connection with service of employment of the following Hancock County School Board and employees from January 1, 2021 to Dec. 31,2025 including but not limited to public official bonds, official bonds, officers bonds, bonds of office bonds for faithful performance, or faithful discharge of duties, fidelity bonds, surety bonds, honesty bonds, employee dishonesty bonds, treasurer’s bonds, clerks bonds, custodian of funds bonds, bonds against loss of public funds, or bonds conditioned upon proper accounting.” There are 11 individuals listed.
……We’ll see where that information will take us. Meanwhile, my heart goes out to every student, parent, teacher and service personnel who are trying their best to deliver education in a normalized atmosphere while they have no idea what the future holds..
