[Nfbwv-talk] WVSDB Weekly Notes for 11-18-16

Wed Nov 30 15:32:45 UTC 2016

Weekly Note 11/18/16

Dear WVSDB Community;

Greetings on another beautiful autumn day! We have been quite fortunate to have had a nice autumn season this year.

We have recently received the Office of Education Performance Audits' comprehensive 108-page report on our schools. We want to express our gratitude to the OEPA team for its thorough examination of our programs and services. Their report will serve us well in our continued efforts to address and improve all areas of weakness, most particularly, the critical area of curriculum and instruction.  This system wide, on-site review process provides our administrators and staff with a profile of our schools' strengths and weaknesses; policy and code compliance; resource needs; facility and capacity building needs for each school, as well as needs at the WVSDB Central Office.

The OEPA report will assist us in planning, goal setting, and differentiating support and assistance to each of our 3 schools.  Additionally, feedback from the report will ensure that each school implements a plan for continuous improvement and works toward achieving high levels of student performance.  It is my impression, that overall this OEPA report is very positive; multiple areas of focus in each of the 3 schools were rated as 'accomplished' by the OEPA evaluation team. I would like to take this time to publically thank WVSDB administrators, faculty and staff for their efforts. They are to be commended for the many accomplishments seen at WVSDB. If you would like to review the OEPA report, it can be accessed at the following link: https://oepa.state.wv.us/oepadata/LinkUpload/97-WVSDB-Report.pdf

We have recently begun work on the schools' 5-year strategic plan which will be submitted to the State Board of Education for their review on December 23rd.  The plan provides WVSDB the opportunity to build on areas of strength as well as to develop a format to address identified areas of weakness. The strategic plan will function as our road map and guide to continued improvement.

Kudos to the School for the Blind for its excellent ceremony honoring our local Veterans, which was held this morning.

Sports Update

We are looking forward to a new basketball season. The season will begin in the 2nd week of December.  Rusty Crace has stepped up to be the new varsity boys' basketball head coach.  Rusty is in his first year as the secondary school Mathematics teacher at the WVSD.  Rusty is a seasoned coach, having coached basketball for 19 years at the Indiana School for the Deaf where he led his team to Clerc Classic Championship titles twice.  He was also voted Coach of the Year at the national level. In addition to basketball coaching experiences, he has also coached football, baseball, and track. His 2 sons have played on the U.S. Deaf basketball Olympics team. One of whom is currently playing on the Gallaudet University's basketball team. We are truly fortunate to have such a high-caliber coach leading our basketball team. Welcome, Coach Crace!

Krystal Shelton is returning as the varsity girls' basketball head coach. In addition, we are excited to have a biddy buddy basketball team again this year. The team will play at the middle school level.  Additionally, we will also field a cheerleading team.

We wish you and your family a blessed Thanksgiving.

Warm regards,

Dr. Martin P. Keller, Jr., Superintendent

West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind

301 East Main Street

Romney, WV  26757

Videophone/Phone:  304-553-7974

Email:  martin.keller at k12.wv.us<mailto:martin.keller at k12.wv.us>

Achieve. Challenge. Thrive.

(Please accept my apologies for sending this out so late! MH)

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WV Schools for the Deaf and the Blind

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