CHARLESTON, W. Va.–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.
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.”
“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.”