Latest news with #MarionCountyBoardofEducation
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Yahoo
Lawsuit claims Marion County Schools lack of safe environment led to student's sexual assault
FAIRMONT — The Marion County Board of Education faces allegations it failed to provide a safe environment on a Marion County school bus after an elementary school student was sexually assaulted by two older students. The parent of the student filed a lawsuit against the Board of Education last year in May. A motion hearing between the Board and the plaintiff is scheduled for next week. The lawsuit alleges the assault took place in 2023 and states the bus driver did not intervene or take any action to stop the assault. It also states students of the victim's age are required to sit in the first three rows, however, the bus driver did not direct the child to do so. The Marion County Sheriff's Department opened an investigation into the incident. 'When Plaintiff and her partner contacted the Principal of Blackshere Elementary to inquire about the results of the investigation, they were simply told that minor [redacted] 'wouldn't have to see them [the students who attacked him] anymore,' the civil complaint states. The complaint goes on to state the plaintiff and her partner were prohibited from knowing the names of the two perpetrators, and the school didn't divulge any information as to whether they were disciplined after the assault. The lawsuit states the Board of Education owed the student a duty of care to keep him free of harassment, assault and intimidation while on a school bus. The suit accuses the board of failing to properly train its staff to appropriately supervise the students of Marion County Schools. The complaint states the child has suffered permanent psychological injury as a result of the attack. The plaintiff seeks compensatory damages from the board. The Board of Education filed its answer to the complaint in August of last year. The Board's answer states the plaintiff's complaint didn't properly make a claim upon which relief can be granted. The board denied the bus driver was aware of the conduct and denied the plaintiff's characterization of the incident. However, the board admits that something did occur. The board also responded to the claims the plaintiff made about not receiving information from the school about the attackers. 'Defendant Board of Education admits it did not provide confidential student information to the parents as alleged in paragraph 26 of the complaint,' the document states. 'But the Board of Education has fully cooperated with law enforcement.' The board also argued that the damages the child suffered, if any, were caused by persons other than the Board of Education. It denied all other allegations and argued it acted at all times in good faith and on the basis of reasonable and legitimate factors. The board also claimed immunity against claims of any alleged failure to enact a policy or rule under the West Virginia Governmental Tort Claims and Insurance Reform Act. The attorney for the board also argued that the plaintiff was not entitled to an award of damages because the alleged damages are speculative. '[The minor's] alleged damages, if any, were caused by superseding, intervening causes over which Defendant Board of Education had no control and for which Defendant Board of Education cannot be liable,' the Board stated in its response to the filing. The Board of Education is represented by Attorney Susan Deniker of Steptoe & Johnson, which has an office in Bridgeport. The plaintiff is represented by Charleston-based Attorney Robert Wagner of Warner Law Offices. School Superintendent Donna Heston said the bus driver is deceased, but declined to comment if the board took any action regarding her employment before she passed. Heston said Marion County Schools cannot comment on pending litigation. Wagner did not return a phone call by press time. The board is asking for the lawsuit to be dismissed, while the plaintiff demands trial by jury. EDITOR'S NOTE: The name of the plaintiff has been withheld in order to protect the victim.
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
06-04-2025
- Yahoo
Lawsuit claims Marion County teacher assaulted child with autism
FAIRMONT — Criminal charges against the person at the center of the lawsuit against the Marion County School Board alleging child assault stalled because police cannot find her. The parents of an autistic child filed a lawsuit against the Marion County Board of Education on Thursday, alleging the school district covered up an incident where Teresa Sestito, a special needs teacher, assaulted a 7th grade student at West Fairmont Middle School on Aug. 25, 2023. The child has a nonverbal form of autism. The lawsuit alleges the Fairmont Police Department signed and filed a criminal complaint on Sept. 20, 2023. 'The police were just unable to find her,' City Communications Manager David Kirk said. 'They made multiple attempts to find her at her listed address and she was even one of the individuals the department sought out during the 'Spring Cleaning' arrests, but officers were unable to find her whereabouts.' Kirk said Sestito was charged with felony battery and assault of a disabled child. Sestito gave a statement to police on Sept. 1 while on leave from the school system. The criminal complaint was not present at either the Marion County Circuit Clerk or Magistrate Court offices. The lawsuit argues Sestito's actions fit the definition of a felony crime. 'Defendant Sestito has not been asked to answer her alleged crimes in criminal court,' the lawsuit states. 'That is, the criminal process/complaint seems to have stalled out, without a warrant or execution of the same, and without any sort of progress.' The lawsuit states on Aug. 25, Sestito was working with the child when an incident occured. It's not clear what the incident was, but it caused Sestito to fly into rage and retaliate against the student. She threw a binder, a Microsoft Go, a notebook and a pen at the student before shoving the student to the ground, according to the suit. '[The child] lay in a helpless and prone position on the hallway floor, for at least 30 seconds, and presumably much longer before camera footage turns off,' the suit states. The principal of West Fairmont Middle sent Sestito home in lieu of an investigation. A Fairmont Police officer created a report on the date of the incident, and on Sept. 1, 2023 Sestito gave a statement to the police. The lawsuit characterizes the statement as self-serving. Police filed the report on Sept. 20, 2023. However, the report never progressed from there. Police never arrested Sestito for the assault. The lawsuit accuses Marion County Board of Education of doing little to nothing to investigate the incident despite informing Fairmont Police they would be provided with the results of an investigation, and moreover, never notified the child's parents of what happened. The parents only became aware after the Department of Health and Human Resources contacted them about the investigation their agency was conducting. The suit states video footage of the assault wasn't properly preserved, and the school district only allowed the parents to view footage of the assault after the parents retained legal counsel, more than one year after the incident. Minutes from a Sept. 18, 2023 board meeting show Sestito was suspended indefinitely. The suit states a press release from the Board confirmed Sestito's separation from employment. One year later, on Sept. 16, 2023, minutes show the Board approved Sestito's resignation. The lawsuit states it's not clear if she was fired, suspended or allowed to resign. It's not clear if School Superintendent Donna Heston ever notified the Board of Education about the circumstances of the assault. 'I don't remember anything that she said to me about that in a direct way,' Board President George Boyles said. Boyles began his tenure on the board in 2022. Heston declined to comment on ongoing litigation, and instead referred questions to attorney Susan Llewellyn Deniker of the Steptoe & Johnson law firm. Deniker did not return a phone call by press time. The lawsuit charges the school district with negligence and recklessness, negligent hiring, training and supervision and retention, civil assault and battery, disability discrimination, intentional affliction of emotional distress and loss of filial consortium. The plaintiff asks for compensatory damages for future economic and noneconomic harm as well as for severe mental anguish and emotional distress. Chirag Desai, the plaintiff's attorney, declined to comment. The lawsuit accuses Marion County Schools of operating under a veil of secrecy. According to the lawsuit, the child's parents found bruises and cuts on their child prior to the incident that was caught on surveillance camera. The lawsuit points out that due to the child's inability to speak, and the Board's failure to investigate the full extent of Sestito's conduct, the truth regarding any additional instances may never be found out. 'The Marion County BOE's disingenuous response to the abuse incident reflects a system pattern of lack of the due care and protection of vulnerable, non-verbal special needs kids like [the child,]' the complaint states.... Plaintiffs hereby bring this civil action because sunlight is the best disinfectant, and these defendants must be held accountable for the harm caused to their family.'
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.
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
W.Va. lawmakers say update to Education Funding Formula a priority
Feb. 11—FAIRMONT — After years begging the legislature to rework the state funding formula for public education, the Marion County Board of Education is finally getting what it wants. Sort of. "I think the direction that's being discussed is potentially doing a comprehensive study of the formula this year," State Sen. Mike Oliverio, R-13, said. "Maybe not necessarily making changes this legislative session, but focusing on that formula, how things are evolving, and if it makes sense, to do a new formula." The Marion County Board of Education sent a letter to members of the West Virginia Legislature and Marion County Delegation on Jan. 22. Among the seven topics chosen by the Board for discussion was the school funding formula. Oliverio said discussion of the funding formula has grown over the last two years from both the public and other legislators. "The outdated formula for calculating funding for positions no longer reflects the complexities of modern education," the letter reads. "Marion County has proactively addressed staffing needs, but systemic updates are necessary to ensure equitable distribution of resources statewide. Revising the formula will allow schools to better support teachers in integrating technology, managing diverse student needs and maintaining operational efficiency." State Sen. Amy Grady, R-04, brought up the subject at the Legislative Lookahead hosted by the West Virginia Press Association on Feb. 7. Grady is chair of the Senate Education Committee. Her comments followed House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-62, who said the funding formula hasn't evolved with time to reflect the current state of education in West Virginia. Grady said she was shocked there has never been a study done on the effectiveness of the school funding formula. She said it hasn't seen much change since the '90s and the needs of schools today are vastly different today. "We have a lot more mental health issues," Grady said. "We have a lot of low [supplemental education services] students. We have a lot more students with [individualized education plans] and those aren't addressed in our state formula right now. We also have some positions within our school systems that are required by law, but they also are not included in our state aid formula." Updating the state funding formula won't be easy due to the complexity built into the equation, changing one element of the formula can have a domino effect on the rest of it. Grady added the formula isn't transparent and can be a challenge to understand. The last thing Grady wants to do is take a trial and error approach to the formula, and prefers something that works out of the box rather than having to revise it multiple times. "I think we need an outside agency or an outside firm to come in and give us a study to give us some data driven evidence to show what we need to change," Grady said. "Is it effective? Are we getting the outcomes that we expect based on the way we are funding our schools?" Oliverio said changes to the formula most likely won't come this year. Instead, legislators will assess the results of any study and figure out what to do in future legislative sessions. The funding formula isn't the only thing Marion County Schools will watch in this year's session. The funding transfer from public schools to privatized education, accountability for where HOPE Scholarship money goes, addressing chronic learning loss caused by the pandemic and chronic absenteeism and truancy. The Board of Education also urged the legislature to stabilize the Public Employee Insurance Agency, which provides health insurance to school employees. The school board also called for more support to Career Technical Education. "As more and more jobs require certificates and completion of programs at CTE, I think we should invest more and more in those types of facilities," Oliverio said. "I think their requests there are very consistent with what I've seen other states do in my travel around the country." Reach Esteban at efernandez@
