Latest news with #DonnaHeston
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Broadband summit held for students at East Fairmont High School
FAIRMONT, (WBOY) — More than 100 ninth and tenth-grade students from across Marion County attended East Fairmont High School on Wednesday for the inaugural Broadband Summit. The event was the first of its kind in West Virginia and gave students a chance to learn about career opportunities in things like broadband, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence from professionals in the field, including those who work in the federal government. Upshur Leadership graduating class holds Community Skills Share event 'Not every student is intended to go to college, nor should they be forced into that pathway. And so today, during this collaboration, they're talking about careers that are available if a student explores a career technical education certification or a college degree,' Marion County Superintendent Donna Heston said. 'It also feeds a pipeline that is in need in West Virginia with the broadband.' Superintendent Heston said that the goal is to bring the event back every year. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pandemic continues to cast long shadow on Marion County student SAT scores
FAIRMONT — Marion County students continue to wrestle with math and to a lesser degree, literacy, in SAT benchmark testing. "As we said in coming off the pandemic, it will take us three or four years to get students back to the point where they have those basic skills they missed in face-to-face instruction," School Superintendent Donna Heston said to the Board of Education on Monday. Heston said the school system has started to climb out the dip in SAT benchmarks since the pandemic. The spread of a lethal virus led to the necessity of virtual in-home instruction. However, schools around the country are reporting lower math and literacy proficiency from students as a result. Heston said Marion County Schools has done a lot to target students who fell behind as a result of the pandemic and worked on improving their proficiency in math and literacy. Heston presented some preliminary data Monday. Heston said East Fairmont High students showed a strong 5% improvements in English Language Arts, while math remained stable. At Fairmont Senior High, students experienced modest growth in English Language Arts, but a sharp 8% decline in math. English proficency at North Marion High declined by nine points but math improved slightly. Districtwide, English language and math proficiency declined slightly, but within the margin of error. Heston said these preliminary reports show that while East Fairmont continues to strengthen in literacy, Fairmont Senior and North Marion continue to face some challenges in math and ELA. Heston cautioned that the data only reflects one day of a student's academic life and that in comparison overall, Marion County is one the better districts in the entire state. Last year, the county was among the Top 10 performing districts in the state, she said. Board Member Donna Costello questioned how long the impact form the pandemic would last on student academic scores. Heston acknowledged it can't all be blamed on the pandemic. She said a number of indicators such as school option play a role. The State's Hope Scholarship program is sold as a school choice program, but could remove $315 million from public education if all private and homeschool students enroll. The program adds those students to the program next year. This effectively defunds public schools. For the 2024-25 school year, the Hope voucher program removed $4.9 million from Marion County Schools. Heston added the format of the test is another factor. "It sends home to us in looking at how we prepare students and use the PSAT," Heston said. As for what the school system is doing to improve scores, Heston said they are working on integrating math and science skills so both disciplines aren't taught in isolation. Students are taught to connect those subjects to the real world. She said the district is in heavy discussion at all levels, from the classroom to central office, on how to bring up test scores. Board members also haggled with Heston over whether or not there would be a standalone budget workshop this year. Costello and Board Member James Saunders created a makeshift front to press for a session separate from a typical Board of Education meeting. Heston argued there wasn't a need for a separate session because a regular session would provide the necessary time and opportunity to field questions about the budget. She also indicated a regular session would be open to the public. Sanders pushed back, saying they weren't saying to hold a meeting behind closed doors. Heston pointed out a meeting limit had been imposed by the state legislature for how many meetings a school board would be compensated for. She added voters and residents are expecting a regular meeting on May 19 at the appointed time, rather than a special line up. Board President George Boyles told board members to give him their preference by Thursday. Boyles and School Treasurer Scott Reider briefly discussed one potential stumbling block for next year's budget in the hallway after the meeting ended. After Reider reached out to the state for next year's estimated budget numbers, he was told to use the numbers from the last year. With all the changes at the federal level and the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education, Boyles said there was a lot of uncertainty regarding how much the federal issue was going to impact the amount of money schools receive next year. The next board meeting is scheduled for May 19.
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
East-West Stadium set to receive new turf this summer
FAIRMONT, (WBOY) — East-West Stadium is getting a facelift as new turf is set to be placed this summer, just in time for the fall sports season. The Marion County Board of Education (BOE) discussed the fate of East-West Stadium after the WVSSAC sent special reports dating back to 2022 from different sports officials stating that the turf was not fit for the safety of students utilizing it. Aside from football and soccer, East-West Stadium also hosts lacrosse, band spectaculars, special Olympics and is open to the public for recreational purposes. Harrison County student gets accepted into Harvard The project is expected to cost about $488,603 minus funding raised in donations. During Tuesday's BOE meeting, Marion County BOE Superintendent Donna Heston mentioned how the county previously brought in an expert to inspect both East-West Stadium and North Marion High School's field. 'Back in September, we had an expert to look at both fields, and the expert jived with what the football officials had been telling us and what the lacrosse officials had been telling us. This turf at East-West Stadium has to be replaced now,' said Heston. The project is expected to take place in June. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Political questions linger amid declining Marion County Schools enrollment
FAIRMONT — Despite School Superintendent Donna Heston's fervent wish to avoid the political environment, it nonetheless still overshadowed the annual state of the school district report she delivered to the Board of Education on Monday during a work session. 'I wish the public, since this is being broadcast, understands that this is not — well it is dumped on our lap — but some of these decisions we have to deal with come from Charleston,' Board Member Thomas Dragich said. 'It reminds me of when somebody down there had the bright idea of doing away with the recent programs we had sharing, going on among all different schools. And now, there's a bill that wants to consolidate school districts.' Marion County lost 84 students since January, continuing a long trend of decreasing enrollment. Heston placed the blame for that on school choice options such as homeschooling, the Hope Scholarship and what the state legislature has been doing politically to expand those options by diverting money away from public education. As a result, this year the school system will cut 10 professional positions and three service positions for the 2025-26 school year. Without the cuts, the district would be overleveraged by 19 professional and 74 service positions next year, she said, costing the district $5.2 million. She said generally speaking, 80% of the district's budget is dedicated to salaries and benefits of employees. However, that is an improvement over last year, when the district cut 40 positions to bring its spending back in line with how much funding they receive from the state. Heston also showed what facilities improvements they were able to make once personnel spending decreased last year. Rivesville Elementary and the Barnes Learning Center had roughly $744,000 and $836,000 respectively in heating improvements done. The district was also able to address roof projects at Rivesville for their gym and at East Dale Elementary, to the tune of $93,000 and $518,000 respectively. Dragich places a lot of blame on Charleston for the tough choices the school district has to make because of its funding from the state legislature. He said a lot of the ideas the legislature is pursuing come from out of state. He repeated his call to update the state funding formula, which mandates positions for schools to have but doesn't pay for them. Enrollment is the bigger issue. The state determines school funding based on how many students attend. West Virginia public education doesn't just face challenges from growing private and home school enrollment, but from residents leaving the state for better opportunities. However, Board President George Boyles had a novel idea for that problem. 'What with all the people who are losing their jobs [in D.C.], and I'm so sorry they are, will we have a migration like we had with the FBI moving into this area? With people deciding to get out of the area?' he said. 'Is there any talk about that?' While many federal employees are losing their jobs in Washington D.C., West Virginia federal employees haven't been immune to displacement either. Earlier this year, West Virginia House Speaker Roger Hanshaw said the state would not be able to absorb all the employees left behind if federal agencies removed themselves from the state. Heston allowed for the potential of such a situation to occur though. Board Member Donna Costello also brought up the news that the Trump Administration is working to dissolve the Department of Education. Heston pointed out such a move cannot be done in isolation and requires an act of Congress. Further, even if the Department of Education dissolves, the funds allocated by Congress to the states would still come through, even if the entity responsible for distributing them went away. However, DOGE's work dismantling federal agencies without congressional approval went on for several weeks before the courts stepped in. Even after federal judges ruled against DOGE, Elon Musk's team still ignored federal orders. Musk undertook the work only on President Trump's direction, without congressional approval. Musk and Vice President JD Vance have also questioned the power federal courts have to stay the power of the executive branch. It remains to be seen how United States Secretary of Education Linda McMahon will execute Trump's order to dissolve the Department of Education. 'I do have to remind the board we are not a political, uh — I understand what you're saying and your concerns,' Heston said in reply to Costello. 'But we receive our guidance from the state board of education.'
Yahoo
15-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Marion County School Superintendent receives report card from board of education
FAIRMONT — Marion County School Superintendent Donna Heston continues to hold the Marion County Board of Education's confidence in her annual performance review. 'She has my confidence,' Board President George Boyles said. 'There's others on the board that really appreciate — she gets into an issue, she always gets me an answer when I ask her a question. A lot of it is just things sometimes off of her head that she knows, that this is what I'm asking about. She's well informed and that's really good to have a person like that.' The Board of Education evaluated Heston at a special meeting and executive session on Thursday. The board rated Heston on whether she 'meets or exceeds' all five expectations laid out on the official performance rubric. The five goals the board considers are community engagement, family and student engagement, district operations and planning, learning environment, increasing the number of students proficient in English and mathematics and fostering career and technical education. Heston had one concrete goal on the rubric — decrease the number of professional and service personnel over the state aid formula by June 2025. Heston said budgeting and personnel season is right around the corner. Marion County Schools had been third on a list of school districts that are over budget on what the state funding formula pays for. Thanks to Heston's work over the past two years, the school system has dropped to 16th place. 'We're really looking at our student enrollment and addressing those things proactively based upon those numbers,' Heston said. 'The seven percent decrease in what we were over the formula amounts to 6.5 positions that we need to address. As we've done in previous years, it had always our goal — that if somebody wants a job for Marion County Schools, there is one available for them.' Heston added the school system has been able to keep employees while shedding positions through realignment and redistribution. Heston also said student enrollment has declined again this year, in line with enrollment decreases at other counties in the state. Heston said her administration is working with those decreases in mind so that they can realign and redistribute with the goal of keeping the school workforce strong. Aside from driving student achievement as a priority, Heston's other goals for the coming year include strengthening school security. She said the School Building Authority granted funds, which after combining them with local funds, will help fortify nine school entrances. The district has applied for a tenth safe school entrance at East Fairmont Middle School. Heston is also looking at facility improvements, such as roof replacements, HVAC and boiler improvements and others prioritized by the district's comprehensive educational facilities plan. Boyles said they set the superintendent's objectives in September. 'Where she hasn't exceeded them she's got the structure in place and it's just a matter of time to get some of those things further in place,' Boyles said. 'More concretely, she's well on the way to having everything exceeds expectations. So that's why we said she either meets or exceeds.' Boyles echoed Heston's goals for the coming year, and wants to see progress made on roofing and school security. He added the district obtained a grant for such projects through former U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin's office that has to be spent by the end of December. Boyles is also keeping an eye on what the state legislature is doing this year, with regard to K-12 education. Boyles was glad to hear Gov. Patrick Morrisey and the state legislature is finally evaluating the outdated school funding formula. He also brought up the Hope Scholarship, which removes money from the public school system and allows parents to spend it with private education providers. Students need to be part of the school system for a set number of days before withdrawing to access the money. If a student returns from private instruction, the money doesn't return with them, however. Boyles wants to see that be part of the discussion in Charleston. 'They've got some opportunities to make some nice adjustments,' he said.
