Abstract
The world of education has been evolving as the needs of employers change and as the world becomes digitalized. Technology
has taken the center stage and school districts have been forming 21st century partnerships with local and non-local
business in an attempt to adequately prepare students to meet the needs of the 21st century and the needs of our
global community. Schools all across the country, including those in West Virginia have recognized this importance and are
now arming their teachers with the tools and resources to actively engage their students in real-world authentic learning.
Local school districts like the Pleasants County School District, located 13 miles east of Parkersburg, West Virginia, have
placed technology tools like SMART boards, DVD players, laptops and other various tools within the classroom walls. These
tools allow students to experience 21st century learning and will give them the necessary skill sets to compete
in the 21st century work place. Pleasants County School prides itself on treating their students equally and instilling
a sense of pride in the student body. This pride is echoed by the school administration and is carried directly into the classroom
by the teachers.
Introduction to School-Community
It has been almost 2 years since the first time I stepped foot in Pleasants County,
WV. It was a warm July morning and I was preparing for my first interview in the county. As I entered the county and the town
of Belmont, WV where Pleasants County Middle School was located, several things caught my attention. It wasn’t the plume
of smoke bellowing out of the 350 foot smoke stack of the Allegheny Power Plant, the small rusted and closed down car mechanics
shops or even the tiny white houses all lined up in a row along Route 2, but it was the peacefulness and the serenity of this
small picturesque Ohio River valley area that caught my attention. I had only been in the county for a few minutes by I was
already lost in its small town charm. Needless to say, I was not hired the first time I interview in the county, but after
my second attempt, the administration staff at Pleasants County Middle School took a chance on a 28 year old aspiring teacher
from Ohio, whom they would nickname, “the buckeye.” In this introduction, it is my goal to share with the reader
information pertaining to the Pleasants County School District and to discuss the demographics and history of Pleasants County,
West Virginia.
In 1851, Pleasants County was born from the portions of neighboring counties and was
named after James Pleasants, who was also the governor of West Virginia in the early 19th century. Before the county
was created, the area had already been visited by several different explorers; most notably the Larue Brother is 1790. These
two brothers came to the area as part of land agreement stemming from the American Revolution (2008). As the county grew and
people moved into the area, the population began to grow steadily. During the
middle of the 19th century almost 3,000 people called Pleasants County home. Currently, the population of the county
surrounding Pleasants County Middle School has grown to little more than 7500 with an almost 50/50 split between men and women
(2007). Most people who grow up in the county end up leaving the county in the
hopes of attaining high paying jobs and a more prosperous life. Along with the closing of several major industries and layoffs
looming in the near future, the area’s population has continued to get older and schools continue to lose their tax
base and their students. A majority of the county is comprised of people with German, English and Irish heritage, but the
area is also home to people with Scots-Irish heritage, which was also one of the first groups of people to call West Virginia
home (Epodunk, 2008). In addition, the county is dominated by people who identify themselves as non-domination Christians.
However, the county has a majority of mainline Protestants and Evangelical Protestants, with a small group of people who identify
themselves as Catholic (2000). Overall the county is dominated by white middle
to lowers class blue collar workers with a pride that would rival any small town in the United States.
One area that the county has prided itself on are the schools, which has historically
depended upon the plants and businesses in the county for tax revenue that benefits the various levies that that schools uses
to operates. Currently on the November 2008 election ballot there is an excess levy that if passed, would continue to support
the schools in maintaining high levels of qualified staff and service personnel. In discussing the issue of funding and levies
with my building principal, historically, levies have passed with very good support and they expect the excess levy to pass.
However, if the excess levy was to fail, essential professional staff and service personnel would have to let go. Recently,
I attended our school’s PTO meeting in which the topic of the levy was brought up and discussed by our Superintendent,
Dr. Super. He explained how our schools would benefit from passing the excess levies and he explained how this excess levy
would affect the average homeowner. It was explained that the only way the excess levy would affect the average homeowner
is if their appraised property value increased. In addition to property value, members of the county are also concerned with
the levies and additional taxes would affect their annual income. On average, the local income for the county is just more
than $32,736, which is almost $9,000 less than the national average (2007). Dr. Super explained that the excess levy would
not affect the income levels of the members of the community. As an administrator, it is important to discuss these issues
in a straight forward honest manner, in which the people understand. For the most part, the parents and community that attended
seemed to understand the plan and looked to be in favor of the levy, but there are members of the community who do not support
the levy and hopefully these members will see the benefits of the levy and vote for it.
Overall, Pleasants County Schools is a smaller district located in West Virginia containing
five schools, St. Mary’s Elementary, Belmont Elementary, Pleasants County Middle School, St. Mary’s High School
and MOVTI. When looking at Pleasants County Schools as a whole, there are 1,346 students in pre-kindergarten to 12th
grade with an almost 50/50 split between male students and female students. Of these students, more than 1,331 students identify
themselves as being white, 5 Hispanic students, 7 African-American students and 3 students who identify themselves as being
Asian/Pacific Islanders. Servicing these students, Pleasants County Schools has a total staff of 203 people with 106 labeled
as full time teachers. With respect to the elementary and secondary schools, there are 51 teachers located in the elementary
schools and 34 labeled as secondary teachers, which gives the district a 12.8 student to teacher ratio (EducationBug, 2008).
One of the major issues facing the district and administrators is the aging teaching population within the schools. Most teachers
throughout the district have been teaching in the district for more than 20 years and the majority of them are eligible to
retire within the next five to seven years. For example, at my school, Pleasants County Middle School, there are at least
five teachers that have announced they will retire at the conclusion of the 2008-2009 school year. Administrators will be
challenged to fill these vacancies and control the changing dynamics within the county schools.
Pleasants County Middle School is a great school to work in and has a very upbeat and
has a very positive atmosphere. I have been given a lot of opportunities to make an impact on the school and I look forward
to working for the school in the future. Currently I am a member of the Teacher Leadership Team, Local School Improvement
Council, and Crisis Intervention Team and for the 2008-2009 school year, the faculty voted me to chair the Faculty Senate.
While the teachers do have their complaints and issues to work through, the school is lucky to not have to deal with some
of the bigger and more complicated issues that seem to be plaguing middle schools across the nation like gang activity, violence
and teen pregnancy. The administration has done a great job in providing the necessary professional development to prepare
teachers for issues in the classroom like Project Based Learning, Bullying, technology tools and Standard Based Instruction
and for issues outside of the classroom like parent motivation and safe-school information. While Pleasants County Middle
School (PCMS) is not greatly diverse in terms of race and ethnicity, the school is very diverse in terms of gender and economics.
PCMS is made up of grades 5 through 8 with a total of 418 students, 222 are male and 196 are female. Nearly 20 dedicated and
hard-working teachers service these students basis. With respect to race, 98% of PCMS’s students are identified as being
white, with Hispanic, African-American and Asian/Pacific Islander making up the remaining 2% of the school population (Educationbug,
2008). In discussing the diversity of PCMS with the building principal, Mr. Wells, he stated that nearly 50% of the PCMS student
population is identified as being a part of the free/reduced lunch program. Moreover, we have students at PCMS who live in
campers, small trailers, farms, apartments, single-family homes, government funded HUD housing and unfortunately we have students
who live in dwellings that contain no plumbing with dirt floors. The school provides
transportation for students to and from school and provides a wide range of athletics and clubs to meet the needs of all students.
These include football, volleyball, basketball, cross-country, cheerleading, academic team, student council, boys/girls club
and there is an after school “teen center” that students can also take advantage of.
PCMS and the district have also made great strides to bring the district into the 21st
Century by implementing the 21st Century partnership. This is a partnership between the West Virginia Department
of Education and companies like Oracle, Verizon and other technology corporations. One aspect of the 21st Century
Initiative is the push to use technology with the classrooms. As a result, in all of the classrooms except for 1, teachers
have permanent mounted projection systems that work in conjunction with SMART Boards, DVD/VHS players with surround systems.
PCMS also has two computer labs with a mobile computer cart that can be taken to various classrooms, which utilizes wireless
internet capabilities available throughout the school. Given our economically diverse student population and the need to provide
students with real-world 21st century skills, the technology available within the classrooms is an essential component
to providing our students with the best education available. I look forward to working for PCMS in the future and I am eager
to see the PCMS and the district evolve.
School Community Profile-District
Philosophy
Pleasants County Middle School (PCMS) is a school that is very dedicated to meeting
the needs of all their students. From meeting IEP regulations to creating students driven peer mediation programs, from encouraging
professional development to creating and fostering after school remediation programs, PCMS is making ever attempt to ensure
the success of their students. In this section, I will discuss PCMS in terms of their core beliefs, mission statement, state
achievements and overall philosophy. PCMS is a school that truly cares about their students and their core beliefs, values
and mission statements exemplify this.
Like
many of the schools located throughout the West Virginia area, schools are fighting the dilemma of providing an adequate education
for all of their students while trying to deal with the everyday issues of replacing an aging population of teachers with
new teachers. West Virginia is struggling with the fact that many potential teachers trained throughout the state are leaving
to go work for nearby states for economic reasons. However, in fighting this exodus of young teaching talent, schools like
that of PCMS have strengthened their commitment to ensuring that every child receives the best education possible. PCMS has
created and instilled a set of core beliefs that I believe the overwhelming majority of teachers and staffs try to meet on
a daily basis. PCMS has made its goal to ensure that each student’s success is their highest priority, while also ensuring
that “the education of each child includes pride, respect, cooperation, caring, unity, as well as the knowledge and
skills for life” (Core Beliefs, 2008). Like many
of the schools throughout West Virginia, pride is a huge element of the school and community culture even though the school
and community struggle trying to meet the economic challenges of the families that live in the area.
PCMS encourages that the school instills and reinforces “the values of morality,
conduct and culture, and demonstrate academic, professional and personal integrity at all levels” (Core Beliefs. 2008).
To help meet these challenges PCMS has developed and incorporated an advisory period into the daily school schedule to help
teach character education. This period is dedicated to teaching the students good morals and values in a creative and interesting
way. For example, my students in 8th grade have teamed up with a local nursing home. Students are responsible for
writing letters to these individuals and working with them in an attempt to become closer to the community itself, but also
many of the individuals located at the home do not have family members. The letters and work that our students complete with
these individuals gives the residents of the facility hope and happiness while at the same time our students learn about giving
back to the community. PCMS has also placed at the center of their ore beliefs, the education of the students is a shared
responsibility between the school and the families of the students, the maintaining of a healthy and productive facility,
the use of technology, the developing of community partnerships with local business and has made excellence inside and outside
of the classroom an essential element of the school system (Core Beliefs, 2008).
Like
many of the schools throughout our country, PCMS is struggling trying to keep up with the principles and guidelines of No
Child Left Behind (NCLB). NCLB has put at the forefront of its policy the testing of students to ensure students success and
the success of school systems. Whether we like the policy or not, PCMS and schools like it must encourage all students to
participate in rigorous testing to show that the school is moving in a positive direction. To help meet NCLB and the challenges
of the future, PCMS created a main vision statement that states, “All students succeed, no exceptions, no excuses”
(Vision, 2008). This main vision has been a focal point of the school and is one of the main reasons why PCMS met the Annual
Yearly Progress (AYP) guidelines that are put forth by NCLB for the 2007-2008 school year. PCMS and students located in West
Virginia take the WESTEST achievement test. This test is meant to show the progress of the school systems and tests West Virginia
students in the areas of mathematics, science, reading, language arts, writing and social studies. According to the standards
put forth by NCLB, PCMS meet the standards in all of these areas and met AYP. West Virginia puts students into one of four
categories to show their overall knowledge base with respect to the subjects tested in WESTEST. Students will essentially
demonstrate whether of not they have mastered the material or if they did not master the material (WESTEST Data, 2008). To ensure that students are successful on future tests, PCMS holds teacher professional
development time to evaluate testing scores and to highlight areas of concern within each teacher’s subject. This time
is used to develop strategies to improve scores and student achievement on future WESTEST tests. The school also provides
teachers with past testing data for their currents students. This is essential in meeting all of the needs of students because
if teachers know what areas a particular student struggled in the year before, these areas of concern or areas of opportunity
can be addressed in the current year. This is an essential step in meeting PCMS’s own vision and mission statements.
PCSM
has also made moves to encourage students, teachers, administrators and local community members to work together to provide
the best education possible. As part of the school vision and mission, the school has created a Local School Improvement Council
or LSIC. The LSIC is made up of local community members, students, teachers, administrators and maintenance staff. The goal of the LSIC is to ensue that our school is meeting the needs of all of the students and to ensure
that the building itself is a place that encourages and fosters the education development of all students. Having been a part
of the LSIC, the committee is essential because every member while maintaining a similar vision for the school, brings their
own and unique background and needs to the table. PCMS has made a point to encourage community involvement within the school
system and the LSIC in my opinion has met this very important and crucial need.
In
addition to the LSIC and other very important programs, PCMS has also put together a 5-Year Strategic Planning Community that
is responsible for maintaining and developing the 5-year plan. The 5-year planning
group is made up of teachers, community members and students. The 5-year strategic plan must be turned into the state and
is evaluated by different state education individuals. The 5-year plan talks about the school mission statement, vision statement,
core beliefs, professional development, technology needs and the use of technology, WESTEST testing data, students with disabilities
and the key outcome indicators of high performing school systems. The 5-year plan also covers the analysis of external trend
data, summary of student achievement data, analysis of school culture, conditions and practices. Due to confidentiality reasons,
much of the data on the 5-year plan cannot be discussed here, but 5-year plan has truly encourage the success of all students
and put the school in a good position to meet the challenges of the 21st Century.
PCMS
is a very unique school and it concentrates on meeting the needs of their students. From their vision statement to their core
belief system, students success and achievement comes first and the school has made great strides in guaranteeing that all
of their students are presented with a rigorous academic program to prepare them for the challenges of the 21st
century.
Interpretation of School
Environment
Pleasants County Middle school is a very unique school and seems like it is a school that takes the education of its
students very important. I have worked at the school for almost two years and I would argue that the overall school environment
is very positive. The school does not have to struggle with other common issues that plague some middle schools throughout
the country like gang violence or other types of violence and/or harassment that takes place. On the other hand, the school
does not go without it issues and problems. Recently, one issue that was “hot topic” for the school was the excess
levy that was being put before the voters. This excess levy is very important because it helps pay for a lot of teacher salaries
and other items deemed critical to the school. Many people throughout the community questioned the levy and argues that they
did not want the taxes raised. In the end, the excess levy passed, but this was not done with a lot of convincing and persuading.
A second issue that has surfaced in the school surrounds
the disciplining of students within the middle school. While the school is a very safe and friendly school, the school system
does have its issues. When students behave inappropriately, the school uses a discipline level system in which a level one
is used for non-severe issues like back-talking and arguing, while a level two is reserved for more serious issues like fighting
or outright and continuous disrespectfulness by a student. In most cases, the student is sent to the office and one of the
principals tries to sort out the details. In most cases, the students who misbehave receive lunch detention or in more severe
cases, they receive in-school suspension or out-of school suspension. The main argument is that since our school does not
use after school detention, many of the students who are habitual offenders never change their behaviors because the parents
are not inconvienced by their child’s actions. Meaning, if the parents had to drive to the school to pick up their child
after school due to their behavior, then the parents would be more likely to handle the situation at home and as a result
the child’s in school behavior would change. To the contrary, I have found that the majority of the students who are
discipline issues at the school have very negative home environments and their parents blame the school, teachers and other
students for their own child’s behavior. The staff and the administration at the school have been in discussions to
try to fix the issue, but it doesn’t seem like an issue that will be solved in the short run.
The school and community have done a great job in working
together. The entire school system and the middle school in particular receive a great deal of community support. Our county
has a partnership with local business and industrial plants in the area. The local community also takes a lead role in helping
to raise funds for school functions like the 8th grade Washington DC field trip and for the local athletic teams.
One of the larger money raisers is October Fest, which is an arts and crafts show. Local artisans sell their goods at the
school in a very festive environment and a good portion of the money raised goes towards the 8th grade for their
DC field trip. The local community has always viewed this field trip as very important and as the price for the trip seems
to continue to increase the local support and backing seems to also increase. Hopefully this will continue and many more 8th
grade classes will get to experience DC. Also, many of the sport teams rely on the local community to donate money for travel
expenses and uniforms.
The major issue that is plaguing the community and the
surrounding area in West Virginia and Ohio is the fact that jobs are leaving the area. As jobs leave the area, families also
leave the area, which means tax revenue for the schools decrease. These losses have not had their full impact on the school
yet, but it will be interesting to see how this issue affects the school in the future. Overall, the impression of the school
and the community is very positive and the people of Belmont seem to be behind the school in their endeavors.
Conclusion
The Pleasants County School District is very dedicated
to the education of its students. From the way the administration hires teachers to the way the teachers prepare their daily
lessons, the school itself is built around respect, professionalism and the need to prepare its students to meet the challenges
of the 21st century. With great community support from parents and local business, PCMS has made it a goal to give
their teachers the resources to actively engage their students in the classroom and to create authentic real-world lessons.
Through the use of SMART boards and various other technologies, students are learning the skill sets that will adequately
prepare them to be active digital learners. These skill sets will prepare students to meet the ever changing demands of business
across our country.
Resources
Area Information – Census Data (2008). Retrieved on September 17, 2008 from http://www.pleasantscountywv.com/docs/localgovernment/
Population Overview (2007). Retrieved on September 15, 2008 from http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/popInfo.php?IocIndex=23084
PLEASANTS COUNTY, WV ANCESTORY & FAMILY HISORY (2007). Retrieved on September 15, 2008 from
http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/popInfo.php?IocIndex=23084.
County Membership Report (2000). Retrieved on September 15, 2008 from http://www.thearda.com/mapsReports/reports/counites/54073_2000.asp.
Pleasants County School District – Saint Marys, West Virginia – Public School District.
EducationBug, 2008. Retrieved on September 15, 2008 from http://west –virginia.educationbug.org/school-district/16936-pleasants-county-district
Pleasants County School District – Saint Marys, West Virginia – Public School District.
EducationBug, 2008. Retrieved on September 15, 2008 from http://west –virginia.educationbug.org/school-district/16936-pleasants-county-middle-school
Vision Statement (2008). Retrieved on October 15, 2008 from https://www.edline.net/pages/pleasantscountyschools/About_Us
Core Beliefs (2008). Retrieved on October 15, 2008 from https://www.edline.net/pages/pleasantscountyschools/About_Us
PCMS 5-Year Strategic Plan (2008) Copy on hand at PCMS
LSIC Information (2008) Copy on hand at PCMS
