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Parents and trustees press board on teacher shortages as personnel actions are approved
Summary
The board approved a large package of personnel actions while a parent and trustees raised concerns about teacher resignations and dual-credit course staffing at Martinsburg High School; central office staff said they are pursuing solutions and will provide follow-up.
The Berkeley County Board of Education approved a consent agenda that included more than 100 personnel and substitute appointments, resignations and other personnel actions, while public comment and trustees raised concerns about teacher staffing at Martinsburg High School.
During the public-comment period, parent Michelle Warren told the board that two college-credit instructors at Martinsburg High School recently resigned and that the school currently lacks a qualified instructor to teach a dual-credit English course her son planned to take. "Currently, my son was set to take the college course from the teacher who's resigned... Currently, there is not anyone in the school age who meets the qualifications to teach the class," Warren said, asking the board to do more to address local staffing shortages.
Human-resources staff presented the personnel report covering coaching appointments, professional and service hires, resignations, transfers and substitute listings. The presenter said the packet included 101 actions across professional, service and substitute categories and recommended approval. Board members asked for more systematic exit information and said they would like an exit-survey mechanism capturing reasons employees leave so the district can report trends to the legislature and adjust recruitment and retention strategies.
Chief human-resources and personnel staff told trustees they already keep records and offered to update the board when a specific school needs immediate staffing solutions. Trustees later said principals such as the Martinsburg High principal were actively recruiting and considering international-certified candidates, and the human-resources office said it was identifying near-term fixes and would follow up directly with the concerned parent.
The board approved the personnel actions on the superintendent's recommendation. The personnel report included coaching appointments, several resignations and retirements, transfers, administrative probationary contracts to correct omissions and substitute appointments.
Ending: Trustees directed administration to return with information on exit-survey data and to follow up with the parent who raised the Martinsburg High staffing concern; the district said it will document staffing reasons and present aggregated data in future updates.
