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Lauren Gorman, Clendenin Homecoming Festival Teen Queen to Compete in Miss WV Teen USA Pageant

 

By: Stacy Nelson | Posted: Sept.  10, 2018

On October 13-14th, 2018, Clendenin Homecoming Festival Teen Queen-Lauren Gorman will be competing in the Miss West Virginia Teen USA competition held at the Creative Arts Center Lyell B Clay Theatre at West Virginia University. Lauren has placed in the Top 5 for the last two years at this pageant and was third runner-up last year.  According to pageant director, Heather Rouch, “This year Lauren is in a great position to take the crown.  If she does, she would then go on to represent at the Miss Teen USA pageant.”

Lauren is a scholar athlete and currently attends Roane County High School where she is a senior.  She is actively involved in Varsity Volleyball and will also be leaving next week to prepare for New York Fashion Week where she is modeling for several designers.

Rouch indicated that sponsors are required for the competition. The Clendenin Homecoming Festival will be paying for her entry fee to compete; however, Lauren will need to prepare for competition and will need a wardrobe as well as beauty expenses. According to Rouch, sponsors will be listed in the official program, on the Miss Teen WV USA website as Lauren’s sponsor, and  will be promoted on Gorman’s social media for the entire term of her reign.  In addition, Gorman will be available for appearance opportunities.

Rouch stated, “Lauren is one of the most unique and amazing young women I’ve ever encountered. I could not think of a better person to represent our state at the Miss Teen USA pageant. She has been a wonderful representative for Clendenin and we are all so proud of her and can’t wait to see what she accomplishes in the future.”

If you are interested in helping to sponsor Clendenin Homecoming Festival Teen Queen, Lauren Gorman, to compete in the Miss West Virginia Teen USA Pageant, contact Heather Roush at hroush.director@gmail.com.

September 10, 2018 in COMMUNITY, Education News, Entertainment, Life & Style, Local News, NEWS, Notable People, Students

Elkview School Bus Garage Experiencing a 35 Percentage Drivers-Run Shortage

By: Mark Burdette | Posted: Sept. 7, 2018

The Clendenin Leader recently reached out to Briana Warner, Communications Director with Kanawha County Schools to learn more about the bus shortage that is currently affecting the Elk River area.

According to Warner the Elkview bus garage is the largest terminal in Kanawha County and is currently operating with a 35% shortage of drivers/runs being taken every day.

We offered Warner the opportunity to offer a statement to help the Elk River Community understand what exactly is going on and what they can do to help.

Here is the current list of open runs (meaning no permanent full-time assigned driver) or ones that cannot be run due to no drivers:

709 / 702 / 1103 /1109 / 1121 / 1114 / 1118 / 1204 / 1205 / 1211 / 1212 / 1213 / 1214 / 1215 / 1218 / 1219/ 1221 = total of 17 runs. “To break it down farther if you estimate 50 students per run x 3 runs per morning and 3 runs per afternoon = around 5,000 seats that cannot be offered to our students”, said Warner.

Currently, KCS has multiclass employees (mechanics, technicians, other transportation staff) running 1204, 1211, 1212, 1213, 1214.

The Kanawha County Board of Education and the Executive Director of Transportation are working on streamlining the training process so that they can maintain training and safety standards, but also move interested applicants through the process more quickly.

Anyone interested in becoming a bus driver can apply here:

https://www.applitrack.com/kanawha/onlineapp/default.aspx?Category=Bus+Operator

A training class begins on Monday, Sept. 10 and they are working on further training classes now.

We have received several comments from concerned parents about the later start time in Kanawha County and asked Warner to comment on that issue as well.

Warner stated, “All of this is happening separately from the bell schedule change. If we ran last year’s schedule, we would be in a worse situation with more problems. This year’s schedule was designed for efficiency, but due to the shortage, we are not able to run as it is designed.”

Warner provided us the following link with additional details regarding the bus driver shortage and encourages everyone to take time to review.

https://kcs.kana.k12.wv.us/Article/4750/kcs-bus-driver-shortage-information

The Elk River Community can help by sharing this important information and encourage anyone looking for a job to apply.

The Clendenin Leader will continue to follow-up on this story so please stay tuned.

September 7, 2018 in COMMUNITY, Community News, Education News, Educators, Local News, NEWS, Students

Roane County reports math teacher shortage less than a month before classes begin

By: Lauren Talotta | Posted: July 19, 2018 | Source: WCHSTV

Earlier this month, the Board of Education called it “a problem of crisis proportions.” Nearly half of the mathematics teaching positions at the high school – vacant

ROANE COUNTY, W.Va. (WCHS/WVAH) — Earlier this month, the Roane County Board of Education called it “a problem of crisis proportions.” Nearly half of the mathematics teaching positions at the high school – vacant. School officials are carefully weighing their options, looking for the solution to filling those positions.

Grandfather Robert Parrish still has some time before Niyah and Blake attend Roane County High School, but that doesn’t mean he’s not concerned about the county’s teacher shortage now.

“Finding math teachers is always a hard position anyway. Even going back 40 years, I know that was my hardest subject,” Parrish said.

Hiring those who are qualified is an equation of its own. But Superintendent Dr. Richard Duncan said…

CONTINUE TO READ FULL STORY AT WCHSTV.COM

July 19, 2018 in Community News, Education News, Educators, Local News, NEWS, Students

Delani Buckner Named To Sophomore All-American Team by MaxPreps

Delani Buckner winding up to deliver a pitch. Photo Courtsey of Beth Strawn.

CLENDENIN, W.Va. – Tom Mauldin with MaxPreps unveiled Thursday their 2018 national high school underclass softball All-Americans. It comes as no surprise to see our very own Delani Buckner on the list.

“Buckner (P) led the Huskies to a 33-0 record and the Class AA state championship when she compiled a 21-0 record with a 0.39 ERA. She struck out 239 batters and issued 28 walks in 125 innings. Add to that, she had a .351 batting average and 19 RBIs” according to MaxPreps.

I had an opportunity to speak with Delani to reflect back on the amazing year she and her teammates had in winning back-to-back state championships, their third in five years. When asked what it meant to be personally recognized on a national level she said, “It was a pretty out-of-this-world feeling.” Buckner went on to add, “I don’t think I would be recognized at this level if it weren’t for my team and my coaches and us being so well received.”

Delani Buckner pitching. Photo courtesy of Beth Strawn.

The impact these young athletes currently have on our community through their hard work and success is nothing short of spectacular. Buckner added, “We are very close knit and if someone gets an award or the team gets an award it’s like the community getting an award as well.” There is no doubt Delani and her teammates are very aware how much they mean to our community and how proud we are of them and their accomplishments on and off the field.

The Lady Huskies totally dominated this season and Buckner attributes her and her team’s performance this past year to confidence. Buckner said, “We never doubted ourselves, we were there for each other and picked each other up if we were having a bad day. Our coaches believed in us no matter what day it was or who we were playing.”

According to softball writer Tom Mauldin with MaxPreps, Hoover started to receive national attention after their victory over Hurricane earlier this year. After beating Hurricane, Buckner stated, “It was wild. We knew it was going to be a tough game. Hurricane knew us very, very well and we knew we had to come in focused. It felt pretty good but we knew that we weren’t giving up just yet.”

Despite being a young team there is a noticeable confidence about this team going into next year that will be on everyone’s radar. Buckner said, “We know we are going to have a huge target on our back. A lot of teams are going to be focused on getting a hit off us and wanting to beat us. Coming off a perfect season we know it will be tough to keep it going.”

As we were reflecting back on the success that she and her team had this year Delani wanted to share a few comments directed towards the Elk River community. “I want to tell the community thank you for all their endless support and staying up to 1:00 a.m. to watch us play Chapmanville in the state tournament. It truly means a lot to us and I just wanted to thank you for everything.”

Herbert Hoover Softball Community. Photo courtesy of Beth Strawn.

The future is definitely bright for Delani, but maybe not so bright for the batters that will have to face her over the next two years. We will be looking forward to next season with great anticipation and wish the Lady Huskies continued success.

To see the complete list of juniors, sophomores and freshman stars across the nation including the 2018 MaxPreps National Junior Player of the Year read the full article by Tom Mauldin on MaxPreps.

June 29, 2018 in COMMUNITY, Community News, Education News, Herbert Hoover High School Athletics, Local News, NEWS, Sports News, Students

Clay FFA team captures national title

FFA team L-R: Darren Ray, Isaac Childers, Clarissa Keiffer and Samantha Hicks. Kelsey Flinn Photo

Posted: June 19, 2018 | Source: Clay County Free Press

The Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapter at Clay County High School has done it again!

For years now, our FFA students have been in the news finishing top in their class in contests that deal with farm management and other genres dealing with wildlife, plants, soil management and grassland conditions.  Earlier this year, students from CCHS competed in the West Virginia Grassland Evaluation Contest at WVU Jackson’s Mill.  This contest, as well as the national contest, was developed due to the need for better knowledge of grassland management.  This is a serious need in our country due to the ever growing problems of pollution and wise uses of grassland will improve water quality and the overall health of a population.  Productive land will benefit people in the country as well as the city.

For a person to survive, there are two needs – fresh water and food. Without proper land management of grass lands and forests, our ability to survive becomes problematic. Our food and  water supplies are essential, always have been and must be protected.  At Jackson’s Mill, students pitted their abilities against…

CONTINUE TO READ FULL STORY AT CLAY COUNTY FREE PRESS

June 19, 2018 in Academic Achievements, Community News, Education News, Local News, NEWS, Students

State school board approves policy change for diploma equivalency

Members of the state Board of Education met Wednesday in Charleston and approved a policy change. Courtesy of the state Department of Education.

By: Jake Jarvis | Posted: June 13, 2018 | Source: WV News

CHARLESTON — After a slight change to the proposal, members of the state Board of Education approved a policy revision Wednesday that will change how high school equivalency programs are administered.

To ensure students in the program receive employable skills by the time they graduate, the policy revision requires that programs be “a state-approved Career Technical Education Program of Study.” Previously, programs were supposed to be locally developed and personalized.

“The procedures are clarified for what it takes to get an option pathway in order to get a high school equivalency diploma,” said Kathy D’Antoni, an assistant state superintendent. “We got seven or eight comments back on the policy, and because of those comments, we did take off a section…

CONTINUE TO READ FULL STORY

June 13, 2018 in Education News, Local News, NEWS, Students

Bid to demolish Hoover High approved, but losing bidder to protest

By: Alexander Thomas | Posted: May 10, 2018 | Source: WCHS News Network

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Kanawha County Board of Education approved at its meeting Thursday a contract for the demolition of Herbert Hoover High School, but one organization that submitted a lower bid plans to protest the decision.

The approved bid was submitted by Rodney Loftis & Son Contracting for $382,777. FEMA will provide the state School Building Authority with the funding to complete the project, and the state agency accepts applications regarding work.

Herbert Hoover High School was damaged in the June 2016 flood. Students take lessons in portable classrooms installed on the property of Elkview Middle School.

Reclaim Company LLC submitted a bid for $339,000, but their bid was rejected for what in-house counsel Beth Lebow said was described as an “incomplete form” regarding subcontractors.

“Reclaim Company indicated in their bid documents that they would be self-performing the entire project, meaning no subcontractors would be used,” she said. “(The SBA is) claiming that Reclaim did not receive the contract because that form was incomplete, but we’re not using subcontractors.”

Lebow spoke before the school board prior to the vote about this concern, noting under state code the lowest bid must be approved. Board member Ryan White recommended amending the motion requiring the state School Building Authority to approve the matter, which the board approved.

White said after the meeting the authority is responsible for the project, and the board of education is solely responsible for approving the bid.

“I also don’t want to endanger the project from being completed, so that’s why I wanted to move it along,” he said. “If we don’t do what the SBA wants us to do, then we may not be able to get the demolition of Hoover done.”

Lebow said Reclaim Company will protest the bid “as soon as they award the bid.”

“It’s going to drag it out,” she said.

May 10, 2018 in Education News, Educators, Local News, Students