Roane County Schools

NATIONAL BOARD CERTIFIED Congratulations to Spencer Elementary music teacher Jonathan Goff, who recently earned national teaching certification through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards! Mr. Goff is only the second Roane County teacher to earn NBCT credentials. He joined Roane County Schools in August 2019 and has taught music at Spencer Elementary since joining us.

SUPERINTENDENTS PLACE FRIENDLY WAGER ON STATE CHAMPIONSHIP In a friendly wager between superintendents, when your Roane County Raiders take home their first state football championship this Friday, Mineral County Superintendent Troy Ravenscroft has agreed to visit RCHS and serve lunch on a school day later in the year. If the Frankfort Falcons are victorious instead, then Roane County Superintendent Dr. Richard Duncan will visit their cafeteria and do the same. Roane County and Frankfort are each vying for their first state football championship this Friday, December 13, at University of Charleston Stadium beginning at 7 pm.

RAIDERS HEADED FOR STATE CHAMPIONSHIP Your Roane County Raiders are headed to the Class AA State Football Championship! The Raiders will take their undefeated record to Laidley Field next Friday to face the also undefeated Frankfort Falcons for the Raiders' first shot at a state football championship in school history.

Roane County Schools will be operating on a two-hour delay this morning, Thursday, December 5, 2024.

JUST THE FACTS - LEVY ITEM #4 Safety and security at our schools is paramount to our students and staff, yet State Aid funding does not identify any specific funds for this purpose and the federal E-Rate program used to pay for Internet access and network upgrades at schools cannot be used to fund safety and security efforts, even though they must use the school's network to function.

JUST THE FACTS - LEVY ITEM #3 After-school and summer programs provide important learning opportunities for students and child care for families. Research shows that school-based programs involving certified teachers are more effective than those provided by other organizations and/or that involve volunteers.

Attendance Winners for August / September -- Walton Elementary / Middle School https://youtu.be/uJooLir_SwA

JUST THE FACTS - EMPLOYMENT COSTS Based on your feedback, we're going to circle back to the average costs of employment for teachers and service personnel in Roane County Schools this school year. The average costs of employment include not just the salary paid to each individual but also the costs mandated by federal or state law to cover workers compensation costs, health insurance, retirement contributions, Medicaid and Social Security, and an allowance for substitutes - yes, state law mandates substitutes be hired for certain positions. Employees are then required to pay their own portions of the costs of health insurance, retirement contributions, and Medicaid and Social Security taxes, so the average salary is not a reflection of actual take-home pay.

JUST THE FACTS - LEVY ITEM #2 Next up in our series of informational posts on the November 5, 2024, School Excess Levy proposal is Levy Item #2, $243,500 annually to support classroom technology, advanced coursework, and co-curricular and extra-curricular programs, including but not limited to Advanced Placement and Dual Credit courses, academic competitions, band, choir and/or theater, Career and Technical Education programs and student organizations, Future Farmers of America, and Future Business Leaders of America, student transportation to and from extra-curricular programs, and related equipment.

JUST THE FACTS - LEVY ITEM #1 As we get closer to the November 5, 2024, General Election, where voters will consider 4 excess levy proposals including one from the Roane County Board of Education, we will highlight each item in that levy proposal to better inform voters of what is at stake. First up is Levy Item #1, $480,000 to annually to support reduced class sizes below required student-to-staff ratios, employ school nurses and counselors, and perform facility maintenance and related activities at all Roane County schools not provided within the State Aid formula.

The 2024 West Virginia Black Walnut Festival is here! Students will return to school on Tuesday, October 15. Be sure to check out the Livestock Sale and Show at the Paul L. Cummings FFA / 4-H Barn and the Black Walnut Festival Band Competition at County Stadium!

With the new Spencer Middle School completed, we close the final chapter in the school facilities transformation that we started after voters approved a historic school bond levy in November 2018. This funding, which could only be used for facilities improvements and not for salaries, supplies, or any other costs related to the school system, provided the catalyst that led to over $30 million in school facilities improvements over the past six years. And each year, the BOE has LOWERED the tax rates levied on Roane County property owners, leading to a tax rate in the current tax year of nearly half of what the voters authorized. Originally focused on just five projects, sound design and management by The Thrasher Group and superb financial planning by Roane County Schools administration led each project to finish well under-budget, enabling a second round of projects to be completed without any additional burden on taxpayers. Some have criticized the new field surface at County Stadium - a necessary improvement given the increased use of that field from recess, practices, and games by Spencer Middle as well as the growing soccer programs at SMS and RCHS and youth leagues. As discussed at the time, though, any funds that remained in the bond construction fund would have been marked for the local contribution to the new Spencer Middle School. Undertaking this important improvement not only provided Roane County students with a state-of-the-art, low maintenance field surface for over the next decade, but also made sure that Roane County received its fair share of state school building funds after nearly 30 years without a new school building.

Safety and Security Will Always Be a Priority Since 2019, we have made over $10 million in improvements at our schools to better support the health, safety, and security of our students and staff - not counting $20.5 million in new construction to provide Spencer-area middle school students with a modern, healthy, safe school building. All Roane County schools are protected with a Safe Schools Entrance, while as of last year, over 40% of the schools in WV did not have one. All of this was made possible by the 2018 School Bond Levy, federal COVID relief funding, the School Building Authority of West Virginia, and the Roane County Commission. Further improvements are planned pending passage of the school excess levy this fall, including: - Full-time school safety officers - Upgraded outdoor surveillance and security systems - Classroom alert systems to compliment phones, radios, and other communications equipment

The results are in: Roane County continues to climb the charts! Roane County's middle and high school programs are among the best in the state, with top 15 marks in Reading and Math in 7th and 11th Grade. Overall, SchoolDigger.com puts Roane at 22nd, up from 39th last year.

New school year means new bus schedules! You can find all of our bus schedules on our website here - https://www.roanewvschools.com/documents/home/bus-schedules/227286 With the new Spencer Middle School now open, Spencer-area routes have all been adjusted to reflect a new bus pickup and drop-off pattern.

ICYMI: WV MetroNews highlighted our Community Open House and Pup Rally at the new Spencer Middle School yesterday. https://wvmetronews.com/2024/08/14/parents-and-students-get-a-first-look-at-spencer-middle-school/

VIRTUAL SCHOOL APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN Applications for our full-time virtual school are now open. https://forms.office.com/r/yG7YwRKEc6 Students must have at least a 2.0 GPA from last semester and have no more than 5 unexcused absences to be eligible to enroll. Once in our virtual school, students must maintain a 2.0 GPA each semester and may only change their enrollment at the semester breaks.

The 2024-25 school year is almost here! Before students start back next week, we have two big community events planned this week: Wednesday, August 14 @ 11 am - Community Open House and "Pup Rally" for the new Spencer Middle School Thursday, August 15 @ 6 pm: Board of Education Community Forum on Our Excess Levy Proposal at the new Spencer Middle School

EXCESS LEVY COMMUNITY COMMITTEE The Board's Excess Levy Community Committee will hold a special meeting on Wednesday, August 7, 2024, via Microsoft Teams. The only agenda item will be to discuss feedback from school-based committees on the topic of an excess operating levy. Information to join this meeting is found here: Microsoft Teams Meeting ID: 247 620 744 562 Passcode: sGdDoq Dial in by phone +1 304-553-7794,,837630210# United States, Charleston Phone conference ID: 837 630 210#

Join us on August 14 as we open the new Spencer Middle and introduce Flora to the Spencer community!