State Board members upset Superintendent did not share information; State taking control of Upshur County school system
By Steven Allen Adams, Parkersburg News and Sentinel
CHARLESTON — State Schools Superintendent David Roach will retire from that position effective June 30, after he was grilled by West Virginia Board of Education members over alleged misuse of federal COVID-19 dollars by Upshur County Schools.
The Upshur County superintendent at the time of the alleged misuse was Sara Lewis-Stankus, who spent nearly a year as the state’s deputy superintendent under Roach from August 2022 until May, when she retired.
The state Board of Education posted on its website Wednesday evening that it will hold a special session at 9 a.m. June 23 in Capitol Building 6, Suite 600, 1900 Kanawha Boulevard, East in Charleston. At that meeting, the board will vote to accept Roach’s retirement effective June 30 and appoint a new state superintendent.
Roach was named state superintendent in August 2022 after serving as executive director of the West Virginia School Building Authority. He replaced Clayton Burch, who had resigned from the position to become superintendent of the West Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind.
The state Board of Education received a briefing Wednesday morning on a special circumstances review report on Upshur County Schools conducted by the Department of Education which looked at the operation of federal programs and spending at the county school system among other issues.
As a result, the state board placed the Upshur County School system into a state of emergency, placing the Upshur County Board of Education under the authority of the state board. Retired Preston County Superintendent Stephen Wotring was named as acting Upshur County Superintendent. …
