Preston County board hears pleas to spare West Preston fifth-grade position as enrollment falls

The Preston County Board of Education on Feb. 27 heard more than an hour of testimony and public comment urging it not to eliminate a third fifth‑grade teaching position at West Preston School as part of personnel actions tied to a district enrollment decline.

At a personnel hearing opened for Miss Schubert, administration staff presented monthly enrollment counts and said the county’s overall enrollment had dropped by about 150 students, which the administration described as translating into a recommended reduction of roughly seven professional and nine service positions districtwide. Administration also cited Policy 2510 (grades 4–6 class‑size guidance), and presented the incoming cohort’s current count of 52 fourth‑grade students who would become next year’s fifth‑grade cohort.

Teachers, the school improvement council and parents told the board that West Preston’s students, many with high needs, benefit from smaller classes and individualized instruction. A faculty/LSC representative read a letter summarizing diagnostic data and arguing the school has shown measurable gains tied to current staffing levels: "We have seen excellent results…we attribute these results to smaller class sizes and more individualized attention," the letter said. Multiple parents gave personal accounts of student progress and urged the board to preserve the position to maintain momentum following pandemic‑era learning disruptions.

Administration staff explained the district’s dilemma: under state personnel timelines, an action taken after the April 1 personnel deadline constrains the county’s ability to reinstate positions without reposting; conversely, if enrollment returns to a higher threshold by Aug. 1 (administration cited 57 as an illustrative number), the administration said the position could be reinstated and the affected employee would be returned to her prior assignment without a new posting.

Board members discussed the tradeoffs between equity across schools and the fiscal constraints driven by state funding formulas. "If we add that job back by August 1, she would bump back into her position," an administrator said, summarizing how reinstatement would work if counts recover before the stated date.

After public comment and deliberation, the board approved both the service personnel agenda and the professional personnel agenda as presented; administration said those approvals place the proposed reductions/transfers into effect on July 1, 2023. The board did not remove the West Preston item during the vote; members said they would continue to monitor enrollment counts and, if numbers permit, could reconsider priority positions before August.

Votes at a glance

- Approved service personnel agenda — voice vote recorded as affirmative (motion passed). (Transcript: motion and vote during the meeting.) - Approved professional personnel agenda (which includes proposed transfers/RIFs) — voice vote recorded as affirmative; administration said actions become effective July 1, 2023.

What happens next

Board members and administration said they will track enrollment and IEP counts through summer reporting; if the enrollment cohort grows enough before August 1, the administration indicated it could reinstate the position without a new posting. Affected employees were afforded the opportunity for the statutorily required hearing process during the Personnel season.

Reporting note: quotes and specific numbers in this article come directly from statements read aloud during the Feb. 27 personnel hearing and the public comment record. The transcript shows some inconsistent name spellings for district staff; this article uses spellings and role descriptions as stated during the meeting when available.