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    Addressing concerns
August 27, 2008

Addressing concerns

Attendance, HVAC system at EFHS among issues as school begins

By Katie Wilson

FAIRMONT — Students all over Marion County groaned and tried to hit the snooze buttons on their alarm clocks Tuesday, but the first day of school simply couldn’t be put off.

Superintendent of Schools James Phares said his office is monitoring all the schools.

“We have had some calls and are addressing parent needs as they come,” Phares said.

Two classrooms of concern are at East Park Elementary. A handful of fourth-graders who live in another attendance area were asked to leave the school to make room for students who do live there.

At its special meeting Monday, the county board of education discussed the matter of transferring students and possibly hiring another teacher to alleviate overcrowding.

Phares said Tuesday morning there are 27 fourth-graders in one class and 25 in the other. State law prohibits having more than 25 students in a fourth-grade classroom, but allows having up to three additional students. In those cases, the teacher is paid additional money per student.

Phares said the attendance staff is working to make sure students are where they need to be. He said when a student doesn’t show up for the first day, Charles Hlusko, attendance director, finds out if the child has moved. If a family moves out of state, it can take up to a week before the Central Office is notified of it, Phares said.

Another area of concern — for a different reason — is East Fairmont High School. The school is experiencing significant problems with its heating/ventilation and air conditioning system. Phares said Monday that following power fluctuations, the HVAC control units stop communicating with each other and the system, so the air conditioning on the second floor doesn’t kick on. That’s enough of a problem in the late summer heat, but if the problem isn’t fixed before Old Man Winter arrives, it’s a hazard for the students, teachers and staff.

Phares said repairmen would be on site to attempt a fix with a $500 part. If that doesn’t work, it’ll require a fix with a steeper price tag: about $150,000.

On Monday, the board members gave Phares verbal permission to negotiate a lease/purchase agreement if the pricier fix is necessary.

If the situation is not resolved, EFHS students could see some early-dismissal days until the problems is fixed.

On the first day of school last year, there were 6,914 students in the seats in first through ninth grades. This year, there are 7,034. That’s an increase of 120 students.

More attendance figures will be available later today. Those reports will not include kindergarten or prekindergarten students, who are not set to begin school until Thursday.

E-mail Katie Wilson at kwilson@timeswv.com.

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