Audit could lead to McDowell schools’ return to local control
Audit could lead to McDowell schools’ return to local control
By CHARLES OWENS
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
WELCH — After eight years of state control, state officials are planning a third audit of the McDowell County school system that could help to determine a long-awaited return to local control.
Kenna Seal, head of the Office of Education Performance Audits, will conduct another audit of the school system this fall, Liza Cordeiro, communications director for the state Board of Education, said.
Corderia said the state board won’t be able to make a decision about a return to local control for the school system until after receiving the results of the latest audit.
The state assumed control of the school system in 2001 after an initial audit found more than 260 deficiencies within the school system.
“At our most recent board meeting, they had briefly talked about Kenna Seal, who heads up the OPA, going back in the fall to McDowell County doing kind of a re-audit,” Cordeiro said. “Nothing would happen until after Kenna Seal goes down there.”
Since the state took over the school system a number of aging schools in the county — including several that date back to World War II — have been closed. Several new schools have been constructed, including the new Southside K-8 and a new Welch Middle, and construction continues on a new River View High School and a new Bradshaw Elementary. Both are being developed along a 17-acre educational campus in Bradshaw.
A fourth new school also is planned for the Iaeger community.
If and when the state relinquishes control of the school system, the local Board of Education would then be placed on a two-year probationary period with strict guidelines to follow.
The state board won’t release the school system until all of the original 260 non-compliance violations found in the original 2001 audit have been corrected. A 2005 audit of the school system found only 17 non-compliance concern remained.
