Uriah Cummings, State Financial Officer of the WV Board of Education, and Jeff Davis of Educational Consultants, stood before the Hancock County Board of Education and a large public crowd to find out what had caused the financial crisis in the County school system that resulted in the State taking over.
The answer was clear. The Board had spent money they did not have, even taking our a lease to own to provide Oak Glen Softball and Baseball field turf and lights. The lease/loan was passed by the board at it’s May meeting and signed May 28, 2025 by then Superintendent Dan Enich and Board President Chris Gillette.
Retaining 143 teaching and service personnel above the State formula for student head count also put the County $10 million in arrears in 2025. An estimated 75 teachers and 75 service personnel will lose their jobs.
The question remaining, however, is who. Who knew and who allowed it to happen. State officials did not name names but former CFO Joe Campinelli knew the General Fund was not sufficient to pay the bills. Then Superintendent Dan Enich knew in September that the funds were not sufficient to meet the Sept. 2025 payroll and he and Campinelli asked the State for assistance. When they were turned down, they shifted funds from the Rockefeller Career Center.
Only one delegation spoke to the Board. Lisa Summers, field representative of the combined Union representing all employees, spoke of fear during the frightening time of not knowing if employees would have a job or a paycheck.
“We did not ask to create this financial crisis, still we are left to deal with it. Transparency is not optional,” she said.
Summers said Hancock County will lose 143 positions out of 500 employees. That amounts to one third of workforce.
The meeting was conducted under the state takeover rules. Superintendent Walter Saunders presided and the agenda had been approved by the State Board of Education. The current Board cannot vote on financial or staffing issues.
One action referenced by Saunders is that the auditing firm that had turned in a clean audit with no findings to the Board and subsequently the State has been terminated. Going forth Hancock County ‘s audits will be completed by the WV State Auditor’s Office. In our three-pronged Freedom of Information Act request to the County HOMETOWN NEWS asked for the amount of Bond carried by the firms. Those working on the request have yet to get a response. Depending on what was contained in that bond, the County could collect on the amount the firms were bonded.
While references to Hancock County’s CFO Joe Campinelli’s non-compliance with using the WVEIS system to report his numbers, was mentioned, it does not appear to be a contributing factor in the report according to Cummings.
What does appear to be an issue is the former CFO’s non-responsiveness to monthly e-mails on his financial report submitted to the State. Then superintendent Enich (and prior to that Superintendent Dawn Petrovich) were copied in and when Campinelli failed to respond to the questions and concerns in the e-mail neither superintendent replied or required the former CFO to respond. The Hancock Board was not made aware of the situation. The WV Dept. of Education also was not in communication with Hancock County to inform them of the lack of responsiveness. That remains a WHY that has not been answered.
Other expenses which have contributed to the crisis:
**$673,000 child nutrition cost in 2025 increased to $1.2 million;
**Staff over state funding formula amounts to $10 million;
**Lease on turf and lights for Oak Glen Softball and baseball fields. Approved by board and signed by Board President Chris Gillette and then superintendent Dan Enich on May 28, 2025. Amount financed $3 million for 7 years. Annual payment $500.000.
**Students migrating to Charter Schools with funding following students $375,000.
**Late drawdown on pyrite repair at Oak Glen Middle from levy taken out of general fund.
While Uriah Cummings of the State, and Jeff Davis of the consulting agency employed by the county answered the question “how much” and gave the public a look at when the Board was made aware vs. when decisions were made……the team did not shed light on “who” and “why”. Then CFO Joe Campanelli was not singled out by name and it still is unclear at which point then Superintendent Enich became aware of the problems. Most importantly, when the Board of Education was made aware of the financial problems.
Davis stressed the importance of the passage of the school rescue legislation sponsored by Majority Leader Pat McGeehan. Currently stalled in the Senate, the bill will provide the funding mechanism for Hancock County and other financially distressed counties to operate.
Going forth Superintendent Walter Saunders told those in attendance that Hancock County would get through the crisis. He urged citizens to verify any rumors on Facebook prior to sharing them. The Board will now go to once a month meetings.
What the meeting did not tell us, however, is with whom the blame rests for what happened and if any investigation has been launched to determined if malfeasance or maladministration occurred.
While Board members were permitted to ask questions, no questions were taken from the audience.
