[NFBWV-Talk] FW: Article from Hampshire Review News Section 2021 08 18

[Karen Swauger]

karen

Original Message: 
From: NFB-NEWSLINE Online <publications at nfbnewsline.net>
To: Karen Swauger <karen at pmpmail.com>
Subject: Article from Hampshire Review News Section 2021 08 18
Date: 
18 Aug 2021 10:24:15 -0500

Hoping for the best at WVSDB. Clayton Burch has a big job ahead of him 
and maybe, just maybe, he has more skin in the game than previous state
superintendents Jorea Marple, Steve Paine (twice), Jim Phares and Michael
Martirano had over the last 10 or 15 years. 

Burch is heading the State Department of Educations intervention at the
West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind. 

That process was initiated in June after an office of his department
conducted a Special Circumstance Review in late April. The 44-page report
that came out of that review found inadequacies in every area of the
schools operation, from bookkeeping to admissions to resident care to
classroom instruction. 

There are some hopeful signs. 

Burch and Company have come to Romney 2 or 3 times. They are promising to
be here a week each month for the coming year. 

One of those visits, on July 31, was to show off the new Technical
Assistance Center being established in what locals know as the
Instructional Resource Center on the campuss northwest corner. Its
heartening that a crew here will be a vital hub for the state. 

We are also happy to see Burch talking with stakeholders, selected
representatives from Romney and the county government, along with some of
the Charleston crowd, to talk about what can be done with the many
buildings the state is prepared to abandon, apparently for good. 

And, maybe most of all, we are heartened to hear that Burch isnt camping
out at the Koolwink (not that its not a grand place) when he visits. 

No, Clayton Burch is staying with his parents, who have lived for the
last couple of years on Lake Ferndale east of Springfield. Maybe they hear
things in the county that Charleston doesnt. Maybe thats his extra stake. 

Burch needs all the traction and ground game he can get because a lot of
whats going on feels like it has gone on before. 

Lets pause to make a couple of important points. 

First, the Special Circumstance Reviews that result in interventions were
designed to let the state poke into one of the 55 county school systems and
take control if necessary, sort of like the state takeover of Hampshire
County schools back in 2006. 

But theres no local board or local bad hirings to blame here. 

WVSDB is under the direct control of the State Board of Education, set in
code since 1870, and operated under the auspices of the state
superintendent  in this case, Mr. Burch  and his department. 

If WVSDB has spectacular failures that require drastic and fast overhaul,
they are squarely the fault of the State Board and the State Department of
Education in Charleston. 

You see, this isnt the 1st time Charleston has reared its head and made
decisions for the Romney school, only to turn its back until the next
crisis. 

Back in 2010 the equivalent of the Special Circumstance Review at WVSDB
led to a 51-page report, the return of some 50 students to their home
counties and the ousting of the superintendent. 

In the 11 years since then, West Virginia has gone through 5 state
superintendents and a nearly complete changeover of the State Board of
Education in 2017. WVSDB is on its 4th superintendent in the last 4 years. 

Of course, WVSDBs leadership turmoil rests squarely in Charleston as
well. 

The State Board of Education made a big deal of a nationwide search for a
new superintendent in 2015 and finally decided on Martin Keller, who became
the 1st deaf educator to lead the facility. It was a groundbreaking choice.


Only Charleston didnt do such a good job of checking Kellers references
and resume. When irregularities came to light in late 2017, he was out
fast. 

As a stopgap, the state named 2 people already in place here  Finance
Director Mark Gandolfi and WVSB Principal Jamie Vittorio  to sort of split
the job in the short term. Gandolfi was dubbed administrative
superintendent and Vittorio became the chief academic officer because
Gandolfi didnt have the education credentials needed to be superintendent
outright. It was a reasonable interim move. 

But Charleston took the easy way out 4 months later. The State Board
quietly voted to drop the interim from their titles. Gandolfi and Vittorio
led the school until May 2020, when Gandolfi left. 

For whatever job Gandolfi and Vittorio did, placeholders werent the right
choice by the State Board. They might have been convenient for Charleston,
but where was the focus on whats best for the students? 

The search for a new superintendent turned up a guy who didnt really want
it. He quit 3 days after he was chosen, never actually setting foot in the
office, and retired state Special Education Director Pat Homberg came to
campus as the new interim. 

Within a year Homberg was leading an effort to make sweeping changes that
are being superseded by the intervention. 

The State Board of Education in March approved a long list of layoffs for
the coming school year and elimination of positions that Homberg initiated.


A month later, it was the 10-year Comprehensive Educational Facilities
Plan that the State Board OKd. That plan called for splitting the schools
not by vision and hearing, but by grade level. It laid out moving
administration to Seaton Hall, moving resident students to Keller Hall and
renovating the historic Blue-Gold Caf. 

And in the 2 months since the Special Circumstance Review was made
public, many of the changes begun before it have been upended. 

The administration is moving out of its century-old home into the school
building that folks here know as the School for the Deaf. Only this year it
will simply be the school. All grades of both the School for the Deaf and
the School for the Blind will be taught in that building. 

So here we sit in mid-August with school about to begin. We cant report
much more than this because for some reason, the Department of Education
doesnt want to talk about what its doing and wont allow anyone at WVSDB to
talk either. 

So, Clayton Burch, State Board President Miller Hall and the rest of the
Charleston crowd, we hope youre going to fix things right this time. 

Were a hopeful community. Were eager to see where reform leads. 

The West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind are a beloved local
institution, a vital piece of life here and, we think, an important asset
to the State of West Virginia. 

WVSDBs campus is drenched in history, its staff is hard working and
caring, and its students are worthy of the best. 

Give us your best  and this time, dont go away and forget us. 

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