Kate Evans
Michael S. Mishti, a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and partner at The Fyffe Jones Group, AC, reported on the Morgan County Board of Education’s fiscal year 2023 financial statements and single audit summary at the June 18 board meeting.
Mishti said his firm provided the school board with a clean audit on the financial statements (an unmodified opinion) and a single audit on compliance with federal programs.
The County Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSERF) was selected as the federal program to test. There were no findings related to this program during 2023.
The board’s internal control report, which was in accordance with government auditing standards, also did not identify any deficiencies or weaknesses, and there were no comments in the management letter, he said.
Mishti noted that new accounting standards have been adopted, and subscription-based IT arrangements (SBITAs) are now treated as leases, which includes e-textbooks and other learning tools with subscriptions.
Mishti said the timeline for the Fife Jones Group audit began in November, with the report submitted in March.
Child Nutrition Tender
The Board of Education approved the bid for milk and dairy products for the 2024-2025 Child Nutrition Program to Potomac Farms Dairy. They also approved the bid for produce for the 2024-2025 Child Nutrition Program to Kilmer’s Farm Market.
Preschool contract, contract
The Morgan County Board of Education approved a cooperative agreement with Widmyer Elementary School and Little Learners Village for the 2024-2025 school year.
The board also approved an agreement with Little Learners Village to provide meals to preschoolers in the 2024-2025 school year.
The Board of Education approved a cooperative agreement with Little Learners Oakland for the 2024-2025 school year.
The board also approved a preschool education cooperative agreement with Head Start/EPIC and a cooperative agreement with Little Learners Village Oakland for the 2024-2025 school year.
The Board of Education adopted the Joint Preschool Education Calendar and Preschool Education Goals for the 2024-2025 school year.
Attendance
Deputy Superintendent Jeromy Duely provided an update at the meeting on student attendance for the 2023-2024 school year. Morgan County ended the school year with a chronic absenteeism rate of 22.37, down from 28% last year. Duely said they fell short of their 20% goal, but came close.
Duely was pleased that the school’s fourth quarter attendance numbers had improved significantly compared to last year.
Berkeley Springs High School went from 34.3% to 25.9%, Warm Springs Middle School went from 37.2% to 18%, Warm Springs Intermediate School went from 25.8% to 19.9%, Paw Paw High School went from 32.9% to 16.3%, Pleasant View Elementary School went from 26% to 13.3%, Widmyer Elementary School went from 37.4% to 27.9% and Morgan County Schools went from 33.1% to 22.4%.
Duely said about 71 of the county’s students had perfect attendance throughout the year, 848 had excellent attendance (0.5 to 9.0 absences) and 652 had faithful attendance (9.5 to 18 absences).
The school continues to contact parents with phone calls for three-day absences and letters for five-day absences, holds parent-teacher meetings and Student Support Team (SAT) meetings including attendance.
Duely said the goal next year is to get the chronic absenteeism rate down to 15 percent. The school will also have an attendance team and more attendance awards next year.
Board of Education
The Morgan County Board of Education has approved Chairman Aaron Close’s registration to attend the West Virginia School Boards Association Presidents Retreat, to be held July 19th and 20th at Glade Springs Resort and Conference Center in Daniels, West Virginia.
Close said that if he is re-elected at the board’s Monday, July 1 meeting, he will attend the chairman’s retreat. If he is not re-elected, he will attend whoever is elected chairman.
The July 1 regular meeting is the organizational meeting of the Board of Education where a chair and vice chair will be elected. Board members will also decide which school committees and community organizations they will serve on. The meeting will be held at 6:00 PM in the Board of Education office.
At 5:30 p.m., re-elected School Board Member John Rowland, newly elected School Board Member Chuck Bergen and new Morgan County Superintendent of Schools David Banks will be sworn in.
Budget amendments and payments
The Board of Education authorized the Superintendent to approve amendments to the FY 2024 budget, which was posted on WVEIS after the meeting June 18. A copy of the budget amendments will be provided to the Board in FY 2025.
The board also authorized the school superintendent to approve payment of invoices through July 31. A check issuance schedule will be provided to the board at a future meeting.
policy
The school board gave a first reading of the following policies: Policy 0147 Compensation – Changes to West Virginia Law, Policy 2230.06 CPR Instructions, and Policy 8451 Pediculosis (Head Lice). These policies will be posted on the county schools website for public comment for 30 days.
other
The Board of Education approved bus routes for the 2024-2025 school year. The routes are: Morgan Messenger Early August.
The Board approved the Professional Staff Development Handbook for the 2024-2025 school year.
The school board met in executive session again to discuss the superintendent evaluation of Superintendent Kristen Tuttle.
Tuttle said school treasurer Ann Bell and staff won a coveted state award for the budget.
Close and Tuttle wished outgoing school board member Pete Gordon the best of luck and thanked him for his service. Tuttle said he was deeply grateful for the support Gordon has given the board and students.
This was the last board meeting for Director of Elementary Education Candy Pentney and Mr Tuttle before their retirements.
“I wish you all the best,” Close said.
