New superintendent hits the ground running

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state’s new Superintendent of Schools took the oath of office Monday at the state Culture Center. Dr. Michael Martirano is now officially the head of the West Virginia Department of Education.

Martirano started out his career in the classroom and then moved to the principal’s office. He most recently served as the superintendent for the St. Mary’s County Public School system in Maryland. Martirano said he can’t wait to get down to business here in West Virginia.

“The work is so important. We want to make sure every child is achieving,” the superintendent said. “Today marks that off.”

Martirano had great success in his last job increasing the graduation rate. He said that will be a big challenge here in West Virginia where about 21 percent of students don’t receive a diploma.

“When a child drops out of school it has debilitating effects for the individual as well as for our state and the economic prosperity. So everyone has a roll in this. That will be a singular focus,” explained Martirano.

Martirano met with state Department of Education employees before his swearing in. A visit to the new Edgewood Elementary School in Charleston was also on his Monday agenda. He planned to wrap up his first day on the job with a teleconference with all county superintendents. He said he plans to visit another school before the end of the week.

The state Board of Education went searching for a hands-on superintendent. Board President Gayle Manchin said that’s exactly what they got. Martirano has a lot of ideas he wants to put into place to improve test scores and achievement but stressed success won’t happen overnight.

“When you’re doing work on behalf of kids, the work is just phenomenal. It’s a big challenge but there are great rewards for our state,” he explained.

Martirano takes the place of Dr. Jim Phares who retired back in June. He becomes the 30th school superintendent of the state of West Virginia.





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