CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The West Virginia Board of Education appointed Michele Blatt as the state schools superintendent Friday after accepting the retirement of David Roach in fallout over a review of a county school system’s pandemic spending.
The board voted unanimously to accept the retirement of Roach, who had served just 10 months. It then met in private before voting to named Blatt as the third state schools superintendent since 2020 and the seventh in a dozen years.
Blatt joined the Department of Education in 2007 as a leadership development coordinator and became a deputy state superintendent in 2020. She had more than 25 years of experience as a teacher and school principal.
School board President Paul Hardesty said during discussions about Blatt prior to the vote that “the theme seems to be comfortable. She’s a proven, known commodity that can take this job July 1 and move forward for the children of West Virginia.”
Blatt said one of her goals is to “establish continuity and stability. We’ve had a lot of turnover in a lot of different positions. And in order to increase achievement and do what we need to do for the students in West Virginia, we have to be able to have stability in leadership at the Department of Education. It will take a team approach and that we need everyone on board with us to do what’s right.”
During a meeting last week, state school board members were upset that Roach didn’t tell them about ongoing issues in Upshur County until late May. A review conducted by the Department of Education had been being posted online months earlier.
The department had reviewed a sample of Upshur County schools’ financial records to check for allowable costs. The sampling represented less than 1% of the total transactions covering four fiscal years.
The county school system received $16.2 million over three years in federal pandemic funds. The review found the misuse of hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funding in the county school system, including $71,000 spent on food and drinks during more than two dozen staff retreats at a resort and a restaurant. There also was $38,000 spent on a national conference for county school staff.
At the time it received the various federal COVID-19 funds, Upshur County’s schools superintendent was Sara Lewis-Stankus. She held the job for five years until she was hired as a deputy state superintendent by Roach shortly after he took his job last August. Lewis-Stankus retired in May.
The review also found insufficient local policies and procedures and unapproved payments made to county school staff, including additional compensation to Lewis-Stankus that wasn’t approved by the county school board.
It also was revealed at the board meeting last week that Lewis-Stankus had joined a monitoring call between the Department of Education and the county school district in February.
Upshur County’s school system was placed under state control last week. Stephen Wotring, a retired superintendent in Preston County, was named the county’s interim schools superintendent.
Bill Ihlenfeld, the U.S. attorney for the state’s northern district, said last week that his office is leading an investigation into Upshur County’s use of the relief funds after being contacted by the state board.
