At the same meeting when she was removed as Senate Education chairwoman, Patricia Rucker was pitched a job with the Department of Education.
Rucker dismissed the idea and soon announced a challenge for Senate president. “My answer to them was I’m not going to resign before my term is up,” she said this week.
“When the meeting ended, they were trying to convince me to think about it and reconsider because my answer had been no,” said Rucker, R-Jefferson. “I said ‘thank you very much,’ and I got up and I left.”
Leaders with the Department of Education were in that same meeting, but even though they would have been the employer they did not address the possibility of hiring Rucker for a newly-created position.
Instead, the job was proposed by Senate President Craig Blair, who has publicly described it at least twice.
Today, in a phone call after this story was first published, Blair said the groundwork had been laid for the job possibility over the past few months. “It’s not a surprise in any way,” he said.
Blair said the job idea was not meant to encourage Rucker to leave the Senate but instead was meant to funnel her interests and experiences.
In a news release a week ago announcing that Rucker was being removed from leading the education committee, Blair praised her efforts in promoting and advancing school choice options in West Virginia.
“And to ensure those options are successful and receive the appropriate attention needed, I have engaged in conversations with the State Board of Education and State Department of Education to establish an office and position that supports non-traditional education programs,” Blair, R-Berkeley, stated then.
The Senate president further described the proposed job during an appearance on MetroNews’ “Talkline,” specifying that Rucker would have been ideal.
“This is my idea,” Blair said. “I’ll explain to you why I want to do this. We pass laws and sometimes we never even realize what we pass has never been implemented. We want to make sure the charter schools, the home schools, the microschools, the Hope Scholarship comes to bear the fruit that we designed to do that.
“And Patricia Rucker, there’s nobody more knowledgeable in the state of West Virginia than her, who shepherded all that through the legislative process. She would be the ideal person to be able to make sure she is the bridge between the Legislature and the state Department of Education and all the entities moving forward with alternative education.”
Blair concluded, “She’s the perfect person for that, and if she would take that job, that’s great. But if she doesn’t, let it be known that I’m looking for somebody — or we’re looking for somebody — who can go and shepherd that through.”
That August 29 meeting in the Senate president’s office included Rucker, along with Senator Amy Nichole Grady, who was named the education chairwoman. The meeting, Blair said, also included senators Eric Tarr and Jack Woodrum along with Sarah Stewart, chief counsel in the Senate and a former attorney in the education department.
Also there were the new state schools superintendent, David Roach, along with Stephanie Abraham, attorney for the state Board of Education. The two education officials left before the Senate Education Committee change was made.
But the education department leaders, representing the potential employer, didn’t address the job.
“The majority of the discussion focused on efforts to improve communications and relations between the West Virginia Board of Education/Department of Education and the West Virginia Legislature, State Charter School Board and other education stakeholders,” said Christy Day, spokeswoman for the education department.
“While a possible liaison position was mentioned, the focus of the WVBE and WVDE is to address relational and communication challenges through existing channels in order to best support the children of our state.”
Rucker agreed with that characterization.
Rucker had not commented on the job pitch until asked about it by MetroNews. She said it caught her by surprise in the moment and then that it was brought up publicly by the Senate president.
She had already decided to challenge Blair for the Senate president’s position, and he knew that, she said: “I would like to clarify that the folks who were at that meting knew that the Senate president — at that meeting — knew I was running for Senate president.”
Rucker found it odd that a legislative leader was proposing a paid role with a state agency and that there was no suggestion of a competitive hiring process with applications and interviews.
“It seemed to have all been discussed before I got there, so it wasn’t really a brainstorming but telling me the opportunity was there if I wanted it and that I was the best person for the job,” Rucker said in a telephone interview this week. “My understanding is that if you’re going to create a job, you have to open it up to other people to apply.”
She suggested there are already people in place with a responsibility to communicate. For example, the West Virginia Professional Charter Schools Board already has an executive director whose role includes outreach to the state education department.
“He is the perfect person to be that liaison. It’s already paid for,” Rucker said. “I don’t know why there has to be someone within the Department of Education, but if there is then the state Department of Education should be offering that position, not the Senate president.”