Hardesty: More options needed to keep West Virginia county school boards accountable

Hardesty, speaking after comments made by representatives of teachers and administrators, said he is working with the state Department of Education to present a bill, the Local Accountability Act of 2024.

“[The Legislature] mandated that they want local control in county school systems,” Hardesty said. “I said, you’ve got one piece of it right. You’ve got local control. But you forgot the second: There is no local accountability.”

Hardesty’s criticisms came as the state Board of Education decided to intervene in the Hampshire County Schools special education program after a review found numerous issues.

The board voted Wednesday to declare a state of emergency for the county’s special education program.

The vote came after the presentation of a special circumstances review report and following three years of “needs assistance ratings” for the county’s special education programs beginning in 2021.

“This would allow us to provide additional support, considering that this has been three years of working with Hampshire County Special Education Services to make improvements,” said state Superintendent Michelle Blatt. “This would allow us … to assign a designee there to support that school, along with requiring the hiring of consultants and support staff to be employed by Hampshire County Schools as part of a state of emergency.”

A special circumstance review of the special education program was conducted in September following little to no progress by Hampshire County Schools toward a targeted improvement plan required by the department’s Office of Special Education.

The review found Hampshire County Schools received a $49,865 grant through the West Virginia Guideposts to Graduation program for the 2022-2023 school year to improve graduation outcomes for students with disabilities, but spent those funds on activities unrelated to the grant. While the school system received another $46,000 for the 2023-2024 school year, those funds have not been spent.

Hampshire County also received a “needs substantial intervention” designation through the federal Disabilities Education Improvement Act Part B, which requires the state to withhold federal funds from the county until the designation is lifted. The Department of Education will use the withheld federal funds to hire a contract employee for the county to assist with special education services.

An individual education plan specialist position at the county has been vacant since last year. Instead of seeking a new specialist, the county instead split the one position into two part-time positions. While the review team looked at 45 random IEPs, 29 of the plans included at least one unverified service, plus incomplete and out-of-date files.

“This indicates many students with disabilities may not be receiving special education services in the frequency or durations determined necessary by the IEP team,” the report stated. “During the file review process, several examples of students being either overserved and/or underserved with special education or related services based on the documentation and schedule provided were noted.”

The state of emergency is only for Hampshire County’s special education program, and its Board of Education will remain in control of the county’s five elementary schools, two middle schools, and one high school.

A state of emergency is one step below state intervention, when the Department of Education takes over control of a county school system due to extreme negligence. The department initiated interventions in Upshur County earlier this year and Logan County last year. If progress for a plan for Hampshire County shows no improvement in six months, the state Board of Education could decide to do a full intervention.

“When we get involved, it usually comes to where it’s a nuclear option,” Hardesty said. “Until board members decide on a local level to hold their people accountable and put student achievement first, we’re not going to do any better.”

While he provided no details about what could be in the Local Accountability Act, Hardesty said the goal of the proposed bill would be to hold local elected boards of education accountable when they ignore their fiduciary responsibilities or duties to improve educational attainment for students.

“When the superintendent makes a recommendation, if the board arbitrarily overrides that based on Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat or what have you and not on sound doctrine, they’re held accountable,” Hardesty said.