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Brooke school board action expected Monday

WELLSBURG — Less than a week after the abrupt resignation of Superintendent Tony Paesano Shute, the Brooke County Board of Education is poised to address some of the issues that led county residents to call for her ouster.

Shute stepped down Wednesday, just as the board was to begin investigating “allegations levied against the superintendent,” though members gave no indication precisely what allegations had triggered that review. But in recent months, Shute repeatedly came under fire from parents and others who questioned, among other things, how nearly $144,000 in pay raises could be given to administrators at a time when the board was citing financial difficulties as the reason for closing three primary schools and eliminating 40 teaching and service jobs, and why the official meeting records don’t reflect any discussion of the pay hikes in public session; why students had to sit on the floor of a school bus; and having to send students to the library because there was no substitute teacher available.

At the board’s Jan. 14 meeting — the same one where its members voted to investigate Shute’s performance — a Follansbee woman frequently critical of Shute’s performance also had told the board the West Virginia Department of Education determined someone in the Brooke County school system had sent nine e-mails to her employer, then tried to hide his or her actions by deleting them. She did not, however, identify who that individual was.

At that same meeting, another parent told the board it was unlikely their five-year school levy would pass in February “without a change in leadership and climate.” A renewal levy is set to go before voters in February.

Hours before Shute’s resignation Wednesday, the board’s vice chair, Stacy Hooper, announced she’d been notified by the state Department of Education that the superintendent had requested and been given access to her emails and confidential student records.

While county superintendents are permitted access to their employees’ emails for active investigations, Hooper is a special education teacher in Marshall County and, as such, the state said Shute had no standing to request the information.

With Shute gone, the board’s agenda Monday includes consideration of an interim superintendent, review and possible action on the Open Government Proceedings Act and raises, and bringing board policy into compliance with the Open Governmental Proceedings Act with regard to the time requirements for posting special and emergency meetings, and an update on the county’s participation in the WV Checkbook audit program, a project spearheaded by State Auditor J.B. McCuskey to provide taxpayers with transparency into the budget process. Senior administrator Robert Robinson, director of facilities, maintenance and technology infrastructure for the central office, also is set to go before the board, with a request for retirement, effective June 30.

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