Summers County Board approves bills, curricula and policies; one recusal on RT Rogers payment

The Summers County Board of Education on June 16 approved payment of its bills and a slate of curriculum and policy items while also placing several personnel and policy items under separate review.

The board moved to remove one vendor, RT Rogers, from the general bills and consider it separately. The RT Rogers bill was later approved; the minutes record the payment passed with a 3–0 vote and one board member recused, citing a conflict of interest. The board approved the remainder of the bills by a recorded 4–0 vote.

Why it matters: the separate handling and a recorded recusal signals the board documented a potential conflict while completing its fiscal business before the end of the fiscal period.

In other business the board approved the pre-K calendar and the K–12 social studies curriculum for the 2025–26 school year, and approved a Frog Street pre-K curriculum. The board also voted to place several policies out for public review, including the head-lice and nit-free policy (Roman numeral 5–g–6) and an updated attendance policy (policy 4110 / 7–B–3) intended to align with recent state changes.

The board approved renewal of a memorandum of understanding with the SESC to continue bus-operator training and testing services, and approved 35 days of summer employment for Kathy Duffield to support the agricultural program. The superintendent’s recommendations for four personnel items were approved (minutes record a 3–0 recorded vote for those items). Several leave-of-absence requests for named employees were pulled for separate consideration or postponed pending meetings with those employees.

Chair actions and executive session: the chair moved the board into executive session under West Virginia Code 6–9A–4, paragraph 2 (personnel); the board voted 4–0 to enter executive session at 5:35 p.m. The meeting later returned to general session and adjourned at 6:01 p.m.

What board members said: a board member asked that certain personnel items be handled separately, explaining, “I would ask that the following be pulled out and voted on separately,” and the request was approved by voice vote. The transcript records votes and motions but does not assign roll-call votes to named members except where a recusal was recorded.

What’s next: items postponed for further review — including several leave requests and the central office relocation discussion (which the board asked staff to place on the next agenda after providing more information) — will return to a future meeting for further action.