The Inter-Mountain photos by Edgar Kelley Randolph County Board of Education members, from left, Janie Newlon, Rachel Anger, Phil Chua and Sherri Collett listen during the fourth night of RIF hearings at the Elkins High School theater Thursday evening.

ELKINS — The Randolph County Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday night to table all of Superintendent Dr. Shawn Dilly’s RIF (reduction in force) recommendations until April 22.

The vote came at the end of more than five hours of RIF hearings Thursday evening, the fourth straight night of hearings this week at the Elkins High School theatre.

At 10:07 p.m, the BOE went into executive session. Board members Rachel Anger, Phil Chua, Janie Newlon, Sherri Collet and Ed Daniels re-entered the auditorium at 10:39 p.m.

Chua then made a motion “to table sections B, C, D, E, F and G to a later meeting, pending the receipt of solid information on funding processes from federal and state governments. So that we can make a more informed decision on the RIF and transfer season.”

The motion passed unanimously, 5-0.

BOE president Anger then set a tentative date of April 22 for when the RIF recommendations will be voted on.

“If we find that those funds are available for us sooner, we will potentially do a meeting before that,” Anger told those in attendance. “We apologize, we want to make good decisions. Thank you, guys.”

Before the BOE’s vote on Thursday evening, eight termination and three transfer hearings were held.

During her termination hearing, Beverly Elementary fifth-grade teacher Alexa Taylor told the BOE, “I stand before you today with a heavy heart, and hope. I’ve been teaching at Beverly Elementary for four years, but most importantly I’m a mom. My son’s name is Theo, he is 3 and he is the light of my life.

“In September Theo will become a big brother, because I am pregnant. It’s because of my pregnancy that I’m standing up here fighting for my job, because it is sickening to think about not having a job in a few months,” Taylor said.

“The unfortunate truth is that the longer I wait to secure a new position, the more visibly pregnant I become and it will be harder for me to find new employment/ Let’s be for real, who’s hiring a pregnant lady? And I’ve been told that if I don’t finish out my contract, I will face penalties and part of those penalties could include my teaching license being revoked.

“This is something that adds even more pressure to a difficult situation, because I’m expected to finish out my contract but I’m also in a situation where  I can’t really afford to wait,” Taylor said. “I need to find employment now if I’m not going to have a job.”

Jennifer Vandevender, a fifth-grade at Midland Elementary, gave the BOE some numbers to think about.

“It has been proposed that 38% of fifth-grade teachers in Randolph County will be terminated — not transferred, terminated,” Vandevender said. “This means there will be at least six new fifth-grade teachers for the upcoming school year.

“It takes roughly four to seven years to become fluent at grade-level content. With these proposals you are essentially starting over with potentially six inexperienced fifth-grade teachers. Losing experienced teachers would set us back and affect the quality of education our students receive.”

Other employees recommended for termination whose hearings took place Thursday evening included: Amanda Simmons, a first-grade teacher at Beverly Elementary; Erica Roth, a Kindergarten teacher at Third Ward Elementary; Hannah Shiflett, a music teacher at Midland Elementary; Emily Alexander, a fifth-grade teacher at Beverly; Natasha See, a fifth-grade teacher at George Ward Elementary; and Tiffany Hymes, a sixth-grade teacher at Elkins Middle School.

Transfer hearings took place Thursday night for Jeanne Hughes, a second-grade teacher at Jennings Randolph Elementary; Tina Wulin, a first-grade teacher at Third Ward Elementary; and Ellen Fortney, a physical education and music teacher at Coalton.

The next regular Randolph County Board of Education meeting will be on Tuesday, April 1 at 5:30 p.m. at the BOE office. 

Teachers, students and community members attended Thursday night’s RIF (reduction in force) hearings at the Elkins High School theatre.