Mingo County Schools Takeover

I have spoken at great length with Jeff Kelley, the Assistant Superintendent for District and School Accountability at the State Board of Education, concerning the takeover of the Mingo County School System. He has advised me on their reasoning for the takeover and why it was done the way it was. Investigations are still ongoing by the state that have  prompted their action so I do understand, to some degree, why they have not issued a complete statement on the issue as of yet considering they do not have all facts to produce such a report. I assured him that I was watching this very closely and expect detailed answers on the Boards actions and he is confident that those answers and more would be revealed when the Board published the report on the cause for the takeover after the full investigation is complete.

I still believe that there needs to be some checks and balances to these types of actions based in law and the updating of some of the statutes that are extremely vague that allow the State Board and Superintendent to initiate these types of actions for nearly anything they "think" could be a problem without providing the requisite proof to lawmakers before taking such steps to interrupt democratically elected officials put in place by the people to make these decisions in concert with the County Superintendent and staff.