MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — The Berkeley County Board of Education will hold a special meeting Monday following the recent report from the state Department of Education that described a “chaotic and occasionally hostile” environment at Martinsburg North Middle School.
After reviewing that report last week, the state Board of Education voted to place Berkeley County Schools under a state of emergency for the situation at Martinsburg North Middle. An update on the state of emergency is expected to be provided at the meeting.
State Department of Education Accountability Officer Jeff Kelley detailed the report to the board, describing an on-site visit made at the school in April. He said a lot of kids wouldn’t be in their classrooms and would not take orders well from the teachers.
“Most classrooms were observed to have a large number of students off-task in an environment that was not conducive to learning,” said Kelley in part of the report.
Kelley also spoke to the situation at Martinsburg North while on MetroNews “Talkline” last week. He said a team was sent to check out the school mainly due to an assessment of learning environment survey taken by the students in October 2023 that returned some not-so-good numbers.
“53% for students reported that they didn’t feel safe at school,” Kelley said.
According to Kelley, the statewide average in that category is around 20%. There have also been 160 physical fights at the school this year and 23 Title IX violations.
The review team who went to the school in April told Kelley that they observed multiple instances where students would act or say inappropriate things to each other or to teaches. He claims students were constantly off-task and were not listening to the adults.
“Threatening and hostile behaviors,” Kelley said from the review. “Profanity and inappropriate language directed at each other and the staff members.”
Kelley said students, staff members and even parents of the school were interviewed by the review team from the state Department of Education and relayed similar information about the environment and what happens at the school.
Math and reading proficiency is also a major concern. The school’s most recent student achievement results show only 24% of students are proficient in English and only 6% proficient in math.
Berkeley County Board of Education member Melissa Power says the board was blindsided by the recent news at Martinsburg North Middle School. She claims the review is “skewed.”
“The buck stops with us to a point on the school board,” said Power. “We were presented with information that actually provided us a glimpse into what was going on at North but that glimpse was highly skewed and dare I say such a level of skewing that lying took place in my opinion.”
That “glimpse” was handed to them at their board meeting on February 21.
Power said she was listening in to the state board of education meeting last week and was dumbfounded at what she heard in the report broken down by Kelley. She says the presentation was misleading.
“What was provided to us was information that told a completely different story than what we heard at the state school board meeting,” Power said.
According to Power, it’s difficult for board members to fact-check or verify the information presented. She said they don’t have access to WVEIS, a state education platform that teachers and administrators use to log discipline matters, as a way to possibly see the full picture of the situation at Martinsburg North.
“We have to take it for what it is when they present it to us,” she said.
Power, who is running for reelection to the Berkeley County Board of Education, is advocating for a report from each school in the county to be provided to the board that details statistics fights or other interactions including ones relating to Title IX.
Monday’s special meeting will also include a few personnel hearings and discussions on recommendations from the superintendent relating to disciplinary action for an employee matter. There’s also expected to be a discussion and possible action on an appointment of a county superintendent. The contract would range from one to fours years starting July 1, 2024.
Monday’s special meeting of the Berkeley County Board of Education is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. in the Board Room of the Central Office at 1453 Winchester Avenue in Martinsburg.