MON BOE IN VIOLATION OF STATE POLICY AND STATE LAW
West Virginia state Code:
§18-5-13. Authority of boards generally:
Each “county board” of education is “subject to…the rules of the State Board” of Education…
These rules include “Rule number 6200 of the West Virginia Board (Handbook_On_Planning_School_Facilities).” So notes WV state Superintendent Henry Marockie in his “Superintendent Interpretation” of February 15, 1991. [link corrected]
It is uncontroversial that the intersection of WV 705 and US 119 – where the green school is intended to be sited (which WVU would sell land for), where the $8.6 million WV SBA grant was approved for in April – is a major nexus of “arterial highways, heavily traveled streets, traffic and congestion” carrying tens of thousands of vehicles per day. These facts should automatically disqualify the location from becoming a school site, by state rule 6200, which the Mon BoE must follow by law §18-5-13.
WV Board of Education Policy 6200:
202.06. For the safety of students, the site shall be located away from hazards and undesirable environments, such as: a. …arterial highways, heavily traveled streets, traffic and congestion / b. Noise… … / e. Taverns… / f. Situations where a combination of factors such as those presented above could contribute to the possibility of human entrapment
WV state Director of the Office of School Facilities, Mike Pickens, in his first weeks on the job was “clearly erroneous” in recommending that the state BoE approve the Mon BoE’s request for a CEFP amendment allowing the new green elementary school to be constructed at the intersection of WV 705 and US 119, as clearly indicated in Mon Schools CEFP amendment proposal reviewed and then recommended to the state BoE by Mike Pickens and the WV Office of School Facilities.
Instead of forcing the citizens of Monongalia County to sue for enforcement of the law, the Monongalia County Board of Education should obey the law, and it should take responsibility for protecting the health and safety of the schoolchildren. Mon BoE should direct that the green school be moved to the back-up site referred to in the SBA green school grant: the Woodburn schoolgrounds.
New Woodburn Community School 
September 30, 2010 at 11:43 pm
So are you saying that the State Board of Education has recently ammended this law for the sole purpose of building the school in this location?
October 1, 2010 at 12:04 am
No, the state has not amended anything in relation to this that I am aware of. The State Board of Education is violating its own policy in approving a school at this location, just as the WVDE Office of School Facilities violated state policy in recommending to the state BoE that a new school at this site be approved, just as the WV School Building Authority violated state policy (and probably law) in approving a grant for this location, just as Monongalia County BoE violated state policy and state law in approving this location, which the Mon Schools Superintendent recommended.
The policy is clear, the laws are clear, the site is evidently in violation of policy and law, yet it was initially suggested by the Superintendent (apparently) and then negligently rubber stamped all the way through the process. Strikingly, to my knowledge there is no evidence that the wrongful nature of the site was ever even discussed or considered as being possibly in violation as it so plainly is.