The state Department of Education will take over administration of the Logan County school system following an investigation that revealed a litany of problems.
The takeover extends to administration, property and contractual authority and begins immediately.
The takeover includes appointing Jeff Huffman, an experienced superintendent in other counties, to the interim leadership post in Logan County starting on Halloween. The state superintendent will have the authority to hire another county schools leader over the longer term.
State officials declared Logan’s assistant superintendent position to be vacated as of today and appointed the current county superintendent, Patricia Lucas, to serve in that role. It’s of note that state officials, while cleaning house on everything else, specifically kept Lucas in a leadership role.
The state superintendent will have the authority to fill other administrative and principal positions in Logan County. County board authority will be limited, specifically for purchases, establishing establishing instructional programs, operating federal programs, running special education programs, establishing policies — in other words, pretty much everything a local board might normally do.
Members of the state Board of Education agreed to the takeover following a two-hour meeting today. The problems with the school system generally related to lack of transparency with county board actions, lack of oversight with spending, concerns about whether a virtual education program was achieving any results, various descriptions of a toxic work culture that was affecting communication between the board office and staff and more.
State Superintendent David Roach described “extraordinary circumstances that constitute major impediment to the vision, education programs and services for students.” He said “delaying intervention by the West Virginia Board of Education into Logan County Schools for any period of time would not be in the best interest of the students and staff in Logan County.”
Members of the state Board of Education approved the takeover at the end of a two-hour, emergency meeting today.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is hard. I won’t tell you it’s not; it’s hard,” said state board President Paul Hardesty, a former three-term member of the Logan board. “First off, I’m embarrassed on many fronts. I was born in Logan, raised in Logan, live in Logan. Logan is my home. But it’s not about me today. It’s not about me at all.
“It’s about the 5,000-plus children and almost 800 employees who comprise Logan County schools. My next comment is directly related to those children and our employees. I am truly sorry that this school system is in this situation again. Change starts today.”
The state Board of Education took over Logan County Schools in 1992 and returned control to the county in 1996.
The board took over Mingo County Schools in 1998, returning control in 2014; and Lincoln County Schools in 2000 with full control returning in 2012. McDowell County Schools were taken over in 2001 with full control returning in 2013. Preston and Grant were taken over in 2009 with full control returned in 2014.
State board member James Wilson, who was appointed in 2015, said he’d sworn not to participate in taking over a local school system ever again. But today he changed his mind.
“After the last county takeover, I swore I would never vote to take over a county again,” Wilson said today. “I’m also disappointed in the local board not living up to their responsibilities. So, hopefully the recommendations of the superintendent will be followed and come out good at the end.”
The takeover resulted from a special circumstance review, begun Sept. 15 by the state Department of Education, that focused not on one particular problem but, instead, a litany of bad habits, responsibility lapses and toxic relationships.
For example, the county board went into closed-door session to discuss public policy for 78 hours from 2021 to the present, diminishing the community’s insight. Similarly, the probe found that agendas for board meetings had not been posted consistently. And the review concluded board members lacked understanding of their previous actions. Contracts were approved without public cost estimates, the review concluded.
“The board has been distracted from the primary responsibilities to oversee a thorough and efficient system of free schools for the students in Logan,” said Charlene Coburn, senior officer for support and accountability for the West Virginia Department of Education.
Alex Criner, coordinator for the support and accountability office, described even more problems.
She described county board members undercutting the superintendent. In one case, Criner described a majority of board members approving a turf infield for a middle school baseball field, even though the superintendent had recommended against it.
The review highlighted an overwhelming perception that chain of command was used as a barrier between staff and the superintendent. Sixty-three percent of school leaders described demeaning, intimidating or hurtful behavior by central office staff, Criner said today.
More problems focused on the school system entering into non-competitive contracts with vendors, with no support except for letters provided by the vendors.
The report described problems with Logan’s virtual schools program, leading the investigation team to question whether the county is really getting anything out of it. One problem involved students who were assigned to an instructor who was not actually employed by Logan County Schools or with the virtual schools provider. So, “no one has facilitated their learning and achievement.”
“This area was very troubling to the team,” Criner said. “Where the academic, achievement, safety, well-being of students in our charge is at stake, there can’t really be a lack of clarity with who’s responsible.
“The unclear terms and severe lack of oversight and communication provides the opportunity for very vulnerable students to be denied appropriate and social, emotional supports. And they’re entitled to those supports as Logan County school students.”
State board member Debra Sullivan asked when all those problems actually started.
“Has this been going on for some years? Is it relatively new? When I say ‘it,’ I mean all these things — the toxic environment, the misuse of funds, the not caring for the vulnerable students, the virtual issues.”
Criner responded that the review team started focusing on the problems for about six months, and that concerns built and built.
“As I was receiving complaints, I think that began to escalate, became more prevalent, gradually over the last year, year and a half — but then became more extreme around August, September,” Criner said. “It started gradually and then became worse.”