Braxton County board completes required LSIC training as district reports test‑score gains and higher ranking

Tracy, the district director, delivered the board’s annual Local School Improvement Council (LSIC) training and emphasized that LSICs are "the voice of the community," designed to bring parents, teachers, business partners and students into shared decision‑making.

The training covered membership rules (principal as ex officio voting member; three teacher representatives; up to two service personnel; three parent/guardian seats; three at‑large appointees), two‑year parent terms, replacement after three consecutive absences, and an obligation to post meeting notes and submit written recommendations to the county board. Tracy cited West Virginia Board policy 02/2322 and state code language referenced in the presentation as the basis for the training and said the state provides a parent/community guidance document on the West Virginia Department of Education website.

During Q&A, a board member asked how "low performing" schools are designated. Staff member Laura replied the designation is based on state testing results (she indicated the list typically reflects the bottom 12% of state schools) and stressed that external sites such as SchoolDigger are not the state’s official determiner of low‑performing status.

Staff then reviewed county assessment and accountability data: disciplinary referrals declined from roughly 1,411 (2022–23) to about 700 in 2024–25, with level‑3 and level‑4 incidents decreasing by more than 30%; chronic absenteeism fell from 26% (2022–23) to 18% (2024–25); and grade‑cohort mastery rates showed notable gains (example cited: a reading cohort from 23% mastery at start of year to 63% at year end, and math from 12% to 62% for the cohort reported). The presentation included school‑level breakdowns and noted small cohorts were suppressed to protect subgroup privacy.

The report also summarized secondary assessments (SAT averages for recent junior cohorts) and CTE outcomes: with 99 CTE completers in the year cited, about 62% met the workforce entry benchmark and roughly 35% earned college credit. Staff displayed SchoolDigger rankings showing several schools improved and said the district’s SchoolDigger composite ranking rose from 41st to 30th out of 55 counties.

Board members praised staff and principals for the progress, noted practical issues with online enrollment forms that the district plans to address, and commended several individual schools for strong gains. The district emphasized that written LSIC meeting records must be posted on each school’s website and that principals must hold organizational LSIC meetings no later than Oct. 1.