The Greenbrier County Board of Education held their regularly-scheduled monthly meeting virtually on Tuesday, October 13. Among the topics discussed were some concerns raised by Greenbrier County teachers about the current directive regarding the creation of lesson plans.
According to a letter read at the meeting by Dale Lee of the Greenbrier County Education Association, teachers have been, “Directed to write lesson plans nine-weeks ahead of time.”
The letter further stated “planning this far ahead is an unsound practice,” and requiring teachers to do so is a “violation of West Virginia state code.”
The letter conceded that creating lesson plans one-week in advance is typically acceptable, going so far as to say that even two-weeks is reasonable during the pandemic. However, nine-weeks is simply unacceptable, according to the letter.
In addition to lesson plans, concerns were also raised regarding the county’s attendance policy. Currently teachers are required to directly contact students who are not present for in-person learning. Teachers have not previously been required to directly contact students who have missed a single-day of classes.
“We are listening to the teachers. We’ve already made some changes to address their concerns. The Education Association hadn’t been made aware of that at the time of the board meeting,” Greenbrier County Schools Assistant Superintendent Nancy Hanna said.
Hanna said that some of the concerns raised by teachers are state-mandates, but that conversations between teachers and administrators have not yet concluded. A supplemental meeting was scheduled to occur in executive-session on Thursday, October 15.
“After we hear from the teachers, we’ll compile a list of the concerns that haven’t yet been addressed,” Hanna said. “Then we’ll see what else can be done, and what else we can alleviate.”
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.