Recent editorials from West Virginia newspapers:
Dec. 18
The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register on a lawsuit about whether Gov. Jim Justice should be required to live in the Governor’s Mansion:
Whether Gov. Jim Justice should be required to reside in the Governor’s Mansion in Charleston remains unfinished business in West Virginia. It needs to be resolved by the state Supreme Court.
For more than a year, a lawsuit filed by House of Delegates member Isaac Sponaugle over the matter has remained unresolved. Sponaugle, D-Pendleton, objects to Justice’s practice of residing at his Lewisburg home and commuting to Charleston. He points out the state constitution requires the governor and certain other officials to reside at “the seat of government,” which is Charleston.
For his part, Justice maintains he spends plenty of time at the Capitol and does not need to reside at the mansion.
Though the matter has been debated in Kanawha County Circuit Court, it undoubtedly will have to be resolved by the state Supreme Court. Last week, Justice’s attorneys officially asked the high court to rule on the matter.
Supreme Court justices should do that as soon as is practical, for two reasons. One is that the matter may become an issue in the 2020 gubernatorial election. Justice deserves an answer for that reason.
Second is how the matter will affect governors and other state officials in the future. Whether they will be required to live in Charleston is not a trivial concern.
High court justices should put the governor’s residence case on their fast track for consideration early next year.
Online: https://www.theintelligencer.net/
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Dec. 16
The Charleston Gazette-Mail on a former school administrator in West Virginia who was found to have had an inappropriate relationship with a student:
The West Virginia Board of Education should have come down much harder on a former school administrator who had a deeply inappropriate relationship with a high school student.
Pete Cheesebrough, a former assistant principal at University High School, in Monongalia County, had all of his teaching certificates stripped in Arizona, where he had been working for two years, after The Arizona Republic and Phoenix public radio station KJZZ uncovered the report on an incident in West Virginia in 2017.
Cheesebrough was investigated by a West Virginia disciplinary panel after a parent found out the administrator had shared a kiss with her daughter, an 18-year-old student, in Cheesebrough’s car. There was also evidence suggesting Cheesebrough had allegedly given the young woman marijuana, and persistently texted her, among other things.
The panel reviewing Cheesebrough’s case was dismissive of the student’s story, because she had initially denied several details to the State Police during a preliminary criminal investigation that brought no charges.
State schools Superintendent Steve Paine, in an order temporarily suspending Cheesebrough’s administrative certification, quite rightly blasted the panel for dismissing the student’s testimony and disregarding her diary, noting the young woman exhibited signs that she was ripe for manipulation by Cheesebrough. While others got hung up on who had initiated the kiss between the two, Paine pointed out the obvious, stating that it didn’t really matter because it was highly inappropriate for Cheesbrough to have a student in his car at 10 p.m.
Paine also said that, while investigators focused on inconsistencies in the student’s story, they failed to give the same scrutiny to Cheesebrough. For instance, the former administrator said he had never texted the teen, when records showed he had not only texted her, but had done so 86 times. Numerous emails from Cheesebrough to the student telling her she could not discuss the nature of their relationship or post anything on social media should have been given more weight, as well, Paine concluded.
The process failed on several levels here. The state investigation and Paine’s order didn’t come until mid-2018, after Cheesebrough was long gone. And even though Paine recognized Cheesebrough had taken advantage of his authority over this teen, he didn’t order a more severe punishment, because neither he nor the investigative panel wanted to cause problems for Cheesebrough at his new job in Arizona.
People should get second chances, but only after accepting the consequences for their offense. Even if he did nothing criminal, Cheesebrough’s actions were clearly wrong. The effort to protect Cheesebrough gave him the ability to start over without paying a price for inappropriate behavior with a student, and allowed him to enter a school district where parents and students knew nothing of his past.
It’s reminiscent of another case involving a man who had moved from Texas to West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle several years ago. He became involved in youth soccer programs and was an assistant college coach. A report from The Dallas Morning News in May revealed that a former player alleged the coach sexually abused her for years in Texas and had come to Fairmont to be close to her college in Virginia. The man was allowed to reinvent himself, and none of the parents or players who trusted him were aware of his past until an investigation prompted his resignation last year. If not for the former player’s persistence, it’s possible no one would have ever learned about the allegations.
This is what happens when those who could hold someone accountable abdicate their responsibility.
In Cheesebrough’s case, the more decisive action by school officials in Arizona demonstrates the proper response to such a problem. Cheesebrough can and may teach or serve as an administrator again, but he’ll first have to undergo a process to regain his certifications. Any school district that might hire him will be aware of the risk they’re taking, and can take steps to prevent any possible future incidents based on that knowledge.
Online: https://www.wvgazettemail.com/
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Dec. 14
The Register-Herald on a proposal by the West Virginia Board of Education to reduce high school history requirements:
For the third time in three years, the West Virginia Board of Education is moving to water down high school graduation requirements – once again using tired, old marketing buzzwords of flexibility, personalization and innovation – when what our students need are greater academic rigor in core studies, generous exposure to the arts and an honest effort by our state leaders to provide just that.
While it is late to the party, we applaud the board for recognizing in this plan that career and technical education is an important spoke in the wheel of opportunity to higher and more advanced learning in West Virginia.
But to peel back on studies in history – as this proposal does – is insulting and, quite literally, dumbs down the curriculum for the sake of filling the employment pipeline with community college grads. Note to school board members: Drop the unfortunate stereotype. Critical thinking skills and a full plate of history lessons are needed by all students, and all students, no matter their calling, are capable of some level of mastery. To suggest otherwise is ill informed and flat out offensive.
The school board should know that it can have its cake and eat it, too, in these matters, but it means raising standards – for all.
The board’s proposal does not address, let alone solve, secondary school outcomes that pale in comparison to national norms. Our high school students are less prepared today than in recent memory to tackle a post-secondary education. The board’s proposed policy only exacerbates the shortcoming.
Let’s start here: The state’s “college going” rate of high school grads is low – among the lowest in the U.S. – and falling. According to the 2018 study by the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, 52.6 percent of our high school grads enrolled in higher education institutions in the fall semester. That includes both two- and four-year schools and that was down 1.9 percentage points from the previous year.
Especially concerning for southern West Virginia, only Summers County (55.9 percent) topped the state average. All others counties in this newspaper’s direct market came in lower. Yes, the lowest of the low.
So what do we hear state leaders in politics and education cheering? The state’s graduation rate, which is climbing. And, yes, why wouldn’t it? Any policy-making board can artificially inflate such statistics by diluting the rigor of the challenge. You don’t need a college education to understand that fewer required classes plus lower standards equal more degrees.
Just as troubling: According to a 2017 report by the board that oversees West Virginia’s two-year colleges, the percentage of the state’s high school graduates needing remedial classwork in either English or math was, in a word, embarrassing. The rate was 30.8 percent statewide and, no surprise here, worse in all southern West Virginia counties.
In other words, roughly one in three high school graduates from West Virginia who goes on to college has to enroll in a remedial class – just to get caught up with skills and knowledge that should already be in pocket.
Listen, the trouble with education in this state didn’t begin just two years ago this coming January when the board trimmed the needed high school graduation credits from 24 to 22, but it certainly did not move us in the right direction.
And now the board wants to cut into the social studies requiement, as schools Superintendent Steve Paine explains, to accommodate students who may prefer taking a computer science class.
Really? Well, then, why did the board cut required credits to begin with? Two more credits, two elective computer classes. There. Fixed.
Tega Toney, an Oak Hill High School teacher who is also the president of the American Federation of Teachers in Fayette County, said it best: “These (history) courses are vital to studying and understanding complex issues on the global, national, state and local levels. Critical thinking and analysis play crucial roles in social studies.”
In life, too.
All stakeholders – parents, students, teachers and anyone interested in improving educational outcomes in West Virginia – should log into the board’s website ( http://wvde.state.wv.us/policies/.) and share your thoughts.
The statistics and the view out here in the real world say much is wrong with education in this state. We are, truly, failing our children. Unfortunately, those in charge seemed to have skipped that chapter.
Online: https://www.register-herald.com/
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