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CHARLESTON - The West Virginia Board of Education appointed from within a new state superintendent of schools Friday after formally accepting the resignation of David Roach following questions about his handling of a financial scandal at Upshur County Schools.
After an executive session, the board appointed Deputy Superintendent of Schools Michele Blatt as the new superintendent effective July 1 at a salary of $230,000 in a unanimous vote.
"I'd like to thank our President (Paul) Hardesty and all of our state board members for their confidence in me and my abilities to lead our public education system," Blatt said. "I look forward to leading the work that we have all started and progressed through over the last several years."
Prior to selecting Blatt, the state board accepted Roach's resignation effective June 30. Roach announced his resignation June 14 after a controversial board meeting in which members placed the Upshur County school system into a state of emergency following revelations of misuse of COVID-19 dollars.
Blatt, who became a deputy superintendent of schools in 2020, began working for the Department of Education in 2007 and has more than 25 years of education experience as a teacher and principal. She has worked her way up in the department, joining as a leadership development coordinator and serving as executive director of the Office of School Improvement, chief accountability officer and assistant superintendent for the Division of Support and Accountability.
Blatt's selection was greeted with applause by department staff waiting outside the board meeting room. Hardesty said Blatt has the support and respect of state board members, Gov. Jim Justice, the Legislature, teachers and school service personnel.
"Talking to the board members earlier this morning, the one word -- the theme -- seems to be 'comfortable,'" Hardesty said. "Ladies and gentlemen, she's a proven, known commodity that can take this job July 1 and move forward for the children of West Virginia, because at the end of the day, we're all here for that reason."
"We have a great system of support in our counties, and we are ready to move education forward in this state and know that it will take a team approach and that we need everyone on board with us to do what's right for the kids in West Virginia," Blatt said.
Roach was appointed as the 33rd state superintendent of schools last summer following the transfer of former Superintendent Clayton Burch to the superintendent post at the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind shortly after the state board approved Hardesty as its president.
Roach appointed former Upshur County Schools Superintendent Sara Lewis-Stankus as a deputy state superintendent, joining Blatt on Roach's leadership team. But Lewis-Stankus resigned in May around the time the Department of Education was beginning a special circumstances review of Upshur County Schools.
The review was triggered after a February Local Education Agency monitoring review found hundreds of thousands of dollars of misuse of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds made possible through federal COVID-19 expenditures.
The review discovered that while Lewis-Stankus was superintendent, Upshur County Schools spent COVID-19 funds on thousands of pool passes and passes for the West Virginia State Wildlife Center in French Creek. It noted misuse of state purchasing cards, improper reimbursements, federal funding used for teacher and staff compensation at higher-than-normal rates, insufficient travel policies and no-bid contracts. The review also found improper hiring of family members of county board of education staff and payment of additional compensations for Lewis-Stankus.
During last week's state board meeting, Roach was grilled by Hardesty and other board members about why the board was not informed about the February monitoring review or any of the issues and whether Lewis-Stankus had any involvement in either the monitoring review or the special circumstances review.
The board voted last week to put Upshur County Schools in a state of emergency, placing the county Board of Education under the authority of the state board. Retired Preston County Superintendent Stephen Wotring was named as acting Upshur County superintendent. The state board also ordered the West Virginia State Police to seal the Upshur County Schools office until state officials could be on site.
Roach's resignation was accepted unanimously Friday. Only one board member, Debra Sullivan, spoke, praising Roach for the efforts he began last year to focus the department and county school systems on reading and phonics education and launching Ready Read Write West Virginia to help improve reading and English Language Arts attainment.
"As we look to accept the retirement of Superintendent David Roach, I want to say that I am so pleased to have had the opportunity to work with him while a member of the School Building Authority and as a member of the state Board of Education," Sullivan said. "I have found him to be a person who cares deeply about West Virginia, its students, its educators and service personnel, its schools and the state's overall prosperity."
Roach worked with lawmakers earlier this year on the Third Grade Success Act to help improve educational attainment in early elementary school grades. In May, he began the process to reform how students are disciplined in schools after the department released new data showing extreme discipline disparities among the state's low-income students, foster children and Black and minority children.
"Much more needs to be done," Sullivan said. "As we all know, public education is under siege. But these initiatives, if allowed to grow, will make a difference in the future. ... I thank Superintendent Roach for over 50 years of service to students in West Virginia. He has certainly made a difference."