Charleston Gazette-Mail. June 11, 2024.
Editorial: Asking too much of teachers on abuse and neglect
Plenty of finger-pointing has occurred after a 14-year-old girl was found dead in a Boone County home, apparently of malnourishment. Child Protective Services, law enforcement agencies and even the governor’s administration have received some understandable and deserved criticism over the situation itself, along with complaints of a lack of transparency in such cases.
Now, response to the incident is getting more political, as some state lawmakers call for more oversight on homeschooling while “school choice” advocates in the Legislature say that’s not the problem.
While this argument is a bit distasteful, considering a girl is dead (her mother and grandparents have been arrested and charged with neglect causing death and pleaded not guilty) it does show just how much agencies like CPS and law enforcement rely upon public schools — teachers especially — to report suspected child abuse and neglect.
In this case, 14-year-old Kyneddi Miller began attending school virtually, rather than in-person, in 2019. Shortly thereafter, she was enrolled as a homeschool student. State officials noted that the proper reports on Miller’s homeschooling progress weren’t filed with the state, as required, suggesting that should’ve been a red flag that could’ve triggered some sort of contact with the state, which then could’ve possibly determined the girl was the victim of abuse or neglect.
Recall also that one of the big arguments cited by the Justice administration for resuming in-person school attendance in West Virginia during the COVID-19 pandemic was a concern that abuse and neglect cases were going unreported.Plenty of finger-pointing has occurred after a 14-year-old girl was found dead in a Boone County home, apparently of malnourishment. Child Protective Services, law enforcement agencies and even the governor’s administration have received some understandable and deserved criticism over the situation itself, along with complaints of a lack of transparency in such cases.
Now, response to the incident is getting more political, as some state lawmakers call for more oversight on homeschooling while “school choice” advocates in the Legislature say that’s not the problem.
While this argument is a bit distasteful, considering a girl is dead (her mother and grandparents have been arrested and charged with neglect causing death and pleaded not guilty) it does show just how much agencies like CPS and law enforcement rely upon public schools — teachers especially — to report suspected child abuse and neglect.
In this case, 14-year-old Kyneddi Miller began attending school virtually, rather than in-person, in 2019. Shortly thereafter, she was enrolled as a homeschool student. State officials noted that the proper reports on Miller’s homeschooling progress weren’t filed with the state, as required, suggesting that should’ve been a red flag that could’ve triggered some sort of contact with the state, which then could’ve possibly determined the girl was the victim of abuse or neglect.
Recall also that one of the big arguments cited by the Justice administration for resuming in-person school attendance in West Virginia during the COVID-19 pandemic was a concern that abuse and neglect cases were going unreported.
Frankly, there should be both more oversight of homeschooling and more thorough follow up from CPS on reports they receive (Miller had more than one brush with the system that possibly could’ve saved her life, though just what happened in those cases is still unclear).
But, in all honesty, lawmakers need to ask themselves who, exactly, would provide more oversight on homeschooling? Who would ensure CPS is more thorough? Miller’s death was an abject failure on multiple fronts and symptomatic of agencies that are ill-equipped to properly function. School choice oversight is lax because lawmakers designed it to be. CPS is overrun because of understaffing and high burnout, and many proposals that would help the agency have been sunk in the Legislature.
So, public school teachers, personnel and administrators have to be the ones on the front line of detecting abuse and neglect and, if a child in danger isn’t in a public school (or a private school that operates like a traditional public school), the odds of that child getting the intervention needed drops.
Of course, public schools in West Virginia are critically understaffed, and teachers often find themselves in the line of fire as the GOP supermajority that runs the Legislature tries to undermine their funding and their ability to actually teach.
Everything around this problem seems backward, and just about every effort to address it gets kneecapped. Now, it’s turning into just another political fight around ideology in the realm of lawmakers while teachers soldier on in the trenches, where the actual battle is taking place.
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The Intelligencer. June 7, 2024.
Editorial: Training Valuable for Responders
As declarations and federal funding remind us of recent natural disasters, and reports suggest there may only be more to come, there is good reason for the West Virginia National Guard to want to help as many organizations as possible be ready.
Earlier this week, the Guard joined with members of several civilian fire departments for a joint training exercise near Winfield, in Kanawha County. According to a report by WV MetroNews, the National Guard’s All-Hazards Response team was joined by members of the Clendenin, Glasgow, Charleston, and South Charleston fire departments — all of which have swift water rescue teams.
“I think you can tell by all of the teams who have come out from the local departments that everybody understands the value of this training,” said Col. Todd Justice, director of joint operations for the Guard.
We know how crucial the Guard’s involvement in rescue and recovery efforts has become as we continue to face storms and flooding across the state. Knowing officials hope to bring back such training twice a year is a comfort.
“They get a feel for aviation and the rotary wash when we’re trying to do picks from the water. They get a feel for how to use our communication packages and we get a feel of how to work with our local partners because generally they are first on the ground,” Justice told MetroNews.
Communication and experience are key. And because of exercises such as the one in Winfield, Mountain State residents know they can count on the Guard and our local first responders to be prepared to work together in times of crisis.
That is reassuring, indeed.
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Parkersburg News and Sentinel. June 12, 2024.
Editorial: ‘Protocol’: Protect children, not bureaucrats
Surely Brian Abraham, Gov. Jim Justice’s chief of staff, saw last Thursday’s press conference going better than it did. In moderating the in-person press briefing, his aim was purportedly clearing up questions about how Kyneddi Miller’s case was handled leading up to her death at age 14 in Boone County.
What followed was a standout example of bureaucracy over common sense, coupled with appalling disorganization and poor communication.
West Virginians got to listen to the governor’s chief of staff call the actions of an on-the-ground local Child Protective Services worker “stupid,” while blame was heaped “at the county level” for poor communication and disorganized decision-making that led to a failed attempt to halt the press conference.
Meanwhile, we learned a since-retired state trooper went with their gut in 2023 and deemed their suspicions about what was happening to Miller important enough to travel to the regional CPS office and speak with a CPS worker in person. Abraham said the investigation determined that in doing so, the trooper did not follow protocol. Apparently, the trooper should have called the Department of Human Services child abuse and neglect hotline, where calls from law enforcement are given priority.
In a twist worthy of Iran-Contra testimony, the CPS worker does not recall meeting with the trooper.
Doubling down on the choice to focus on “protocol,” rather than children and the humans who really are trying to help them, DoHS Cabinet Secretary Cynthia Persily talked about which calls to the hotline might be worthy of action.
“If the referral meets the criteria set out in law for abuse and neglect, there will be an investigation as we currently do,” she said.
One wonders whether it has occurred to her that an investigation might help determine if the case met the criteria, or whether an experienced state trooper’s instincts might be worth considering.
Solutions to prevent another death are hard to come by. Abraham and Persily want to focus on the hotline — 1-800-352-6531. Yes, of course, those who suspect child neglect or abuse, particularly mandated reporters, should use it.
Surely DoHS will forgive them if not all Is are dotted and Ts crossed when they do so. After all, a person whose gut is telling them a child is in danger is worried much more about the safety of the child than about “protocol.”
And it is encouraging to note lawmakers are being asked to consider steps that would better protect children who are being homeschooled.
But until public officials give the impression they are more worried about doing all they can to prevent another such tragedy than about covering their own backsides, it will be slow going. Mountain State residents can only hope change does not come so slowly that for some other child, it is too late.
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