Ryan Taylor, president and CEO of Pickering Associates, and T.J. Tharp, project manager for McKinley Associates, gave an update on all 22 bond projects in the district to the Wood County Board of Education Tuesday night. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)

PARKERSBURG — In a detailed presentation to the Wood County Board of Education Tuesday night, Ryan Taylor, president and CEO of Pickering Associates, and T.J. Tharp, project manager for McKinley Associates, outlined the challenges and budget concerns surrounding the school bond projects approved by voters in 2021.

“So we’re going to talk about scope, we’re going to talk about budget, we’re going to talk about schedule, talk about issues,” Taylor said. “There’s going to be some scary numbers on there, or there’s going to be some exciting numbers on there.”

Of the 22 bond projects, the pair said seven have firm construction contracts or guaranteed maximum prices, providing more budget certainty. However, the remaining 15 projects are still in the planning stages and face an estimated 23% overall cost increase.

Some specific project updates included:

* The Gihon Elementary secure entrance project saw a $291,000 budget overrun due to “scope creep” — where the initial plans expanded beyond the original scope, requiring more resources.

Kaleb Lawrence, assistant superintendent of operations, gave the Wood County Board of Education an update on projects completed over the summer during the board’s regular meeting Tuesday night. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)

* The Lubeck Elementary School design is currently $4.9 million over budget, prompting value engineering efforts where they reevaluate the design and materials.

* The new Vienna Elementary School is facing an $8 million budget gap, leading the district to reevaluate the program and enrollment projections.

Taylor explained that scope creep is a common challenge, occurring when initial plans expand beyond the original intent. He said this can happen as designers and administrators identify additional needs or uncover unexpected conditions during the planning process.

“These are all good changes needed for that school,” Taylor said. “Huge opportunities to make the school better. And I’m so happy and satisfied with this project. It’s been needing some attention for a while. So the target completion is December of ’24, a great project. Great contractor. Good job.”

Despite the budget pressures, Tharp highlighted some projects that have come in under budget.

Dr. Jason Hughes, director of the Wood County Technical Center, talked to the Wood County Board of Education about the needs of the center during the board’s regular meeting Tuesday night. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)

“We’ve had several of them that have come in 15%, 18% under our estimates,” Tharp said.

The examples provided included:

* The Martin Elementary projects, which involved HVAC updates. Tharp said they were able to find a “better solution” that resulted in the project coming in $44,000 under the original target budget.

* The Hamilton Middle School secure entrance project, where the contractor “sharpened their pencil” and the final cost was aligned with the original scope and design.

Board President Justin Raber said as of June 30, the interest that the district has received on the bonds is $1.8 million.

“Free money, 100% free money,” Raber said. “We’ve paid a couple million out at this point. I’m just using rough numbers. But you know, we have two months that we don’t have the numbers for yet, which is about $200,000-$150,000 a month. So we should have, as of right now, about $2.2 million in interest earned.”

The school bond projects are expected to continue over the next three to four years, with officials on both sides saying they will work to keep the community informed and the projects on track as much as possible.

Eric Murphy and Jimmy Stewart, Technology Integration Specialists, discussed changes to the district’s communication practices in response to the challenges faced during the past week and a half with multiple school threats.

Murphy explained that the district’s previous approach involved immediately sending simultaneous text messages and voice calls to parents whenever an incident occurred at a school. He said public information would then be shared on the Wood County Schools App District Feed, the district web page live feed and social media. However, he said they found that the rapid spread of information on social media was leading to the proliferation of unverified reports, misidentifications, hoaxes, and out-of-context information.

“This rapid spread of (mis)information on social media sometimes can outpace the official channels of Wood County Schools,” Murphy said. “Which then allows falsehoods to dominate the conversation in that initial phase of getting that information out there.”

To address these issues, he said the district will be transitioning away from sharing emergency information directly on social media platforms. Instead, he said they will focus on updating the news section of the district’s website, which will also be displayed on the school district’s mobile app. This will provide a centralized and verified source of information for the public, he said.

Murphy also said the district plans to establish clear terms of use for its social media platforms to foster a positive experience for visitors and allow for the removal of offensive or discriminatory content.

During public delegation, Jason Turner expressed his disappointment at the administration’s lack of response to his previous attempts to reach out to board members via email and voicemail seeking more transparent and accessible information about the school’s current safety procedures, including active shooter drills, metal detectors and security presence.

Superintendent Christie Willis explained the process of handling emergency information, noting the need to work closely with law enforcement agencies and consider legal implications regarding student privacy.

“The people who are trying to put together the message are also the people involved in trying to figure out the situation,” Willis said.

She said when the district is working on statements they also have to involve attorneys to make sure that the district is not violating the students’ rights as to what information they could put out to the public

“So there’s many factors that play into how we handled each situation, and each one of them seemed to be a little different,” Willis said.

She shared an example of a situation at Edison Middle School where misinformation spread on social media causing even more panic when it was found the school mentioned in the threat was in Connecticut, and not West Virginia, and people were commenting and sharing saying the post from the district was untrue.

“We’re trying to make sure the kids have a good school day, and that everybody knows that there’s no threat at Edison Middle School, and something like that goes viral,” Willis said. “We have to adjust this plan, because we don’t know if these people are involved in it or not, but it’s the families of the students at that school that need to know that they’re safe, and that’s who we’re concerned with communicating with directly.”

Willis said the district’s crisis management plans, which are reviewed by the safety coordinator, Jeremy Bell, will be the subject of a safety update presentation for the school board on Oct. 8.

Dr. Jason Hughes, director of the Wood County Technical Center, expressed concern to the board that the center has hit a “ceiling” in terms of enrollment and is in need of more resources to overcome this challenge. Specifically, he requested the board’s consideration for three key positions: an assistant director, a CTE guidance counselor, and a special education teacher.

Board members acknowledged the importance of these resource needs and discussed potential ways to fund the positions. They requested more detailed job descriptions to better understand the roles and responsibilities, as well as additional data on the impact of the missing resources, such as the number of students who dropped from programs due to lack of guidance.

“I don’t think it would be a hard sell once you document it,” Board member Rick Olcott said. “To really see where the lack of those resources are hurting the tech center growth and so that could justify us taking a deeper look at it financially.”

The next meeting of the board of education is scheduled for 6 p.m. Oct. 8. The meeting will be held at the board offices at Plum and 13th streets in Parkersburg. The meeting is open to the public and will be streamed online.

Douglass Huxley can be reached at dhuxley@newsandsentinel.com

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Items approved during the consent agenda:

* Contract with B Armstrong Electrical Services Access Control in the amount of $38,945

* Kanawha HVAC Pay App 5 to Murray Sheet Metal Co. Inc., in the amount of $492,265.80

* Kanawha HVAC Pay App 6 to Murray Sheet Metal Co. Inc., in the amount of $187,009

* Pay App 9 for Martin HVAC to Murray Sheet Metal Co. Inc., in the amount of $93,150

* Pay App 10 for Martin Elementary HVAC to Murray Sheet Metal Co. Inc., in the amount of $230,096.40

* Pay App 3 to Grae Con Construction Inc., for the Blennerhassett Middle School Secure Entrance in the amount of $33,341

* Gihon Elementary Secure Entrance Pay App 3 to Grae Con Construction Inc. in the amount of $116,122.77

* Agreement between Wood County Sports Association and Wood County School for use of the Hank Greenburg Field for Parkersburg South High School baseball from Jan. 1, 2025-Dec. 31, 2025

* Agreement between Wood County Sports Association and Wood County School for use of Don Godbey Field for Parkersburg South High School softball from Jan. 1, 2025-Dec. 31, 2025

* Mini Project Award to Neale Elementary School to promote healthy eating and physical activity from West Virginia University at Parkersburg in the amount of $110

* Articles of Agreement between Wood County Schools and Glenville State University for pre-service teaching placements through June 30, 2025

* Agreement for the Provision of Professional Services for Mineral Wells Elementary structure review in the amount of $3,000

* Agreement for the Provision of Professional Services Franklin Elementary Center structure review in the amount of $3,000

* Certificate of Substantial Completion for Martin Elementary School for HVAC to Murray Sheet Metal Co. Inc.

* Certificate of Substantial Completion for Kanawha Elementary School HVAC to Murray Sheet Metal Co. Inc.

* Amendment to the Professional Services Agreement Erickson Baseball and Softball Geotech in the amount of $28,534.90

* Testing Services Agreement with West Virginia Drug Testing Laboratory for Parkersburg High School, Parkersburg South High School and Williamstown High School, for student drug testing

* MOU between Wood County Schools and Westbrook for the Youth Recovery Center to develop and expand Substance Use Disorder (SUD) treatment services to Wood County Schools students aged 14 to 20 years

* MOU between Wood County Schools and Westbrook Health Services, to formalize the terms and conditions under which the parties shall work together to expand the presence of mental health services at Blennerhassett Middle School, Hamilton Middle School, Jackson Middle School and Summit Success Academy, through Aug. 30, 2025, and is contingent on grant funding

* Agreement with Pickering Associates to complete property research, field work and marking of the east line of the Emerson Elementary School property line, at a cost of $2,250

* Curriculum Associates licenses for i-Ready Math and Reading for personalized instruction in the amount of $330,327

* Contractual agreement between Ohio Valley Health Care and Wood County Schools for nursing assistant students attending the Wood County Technical Center to experience long-term care in a nursing home environment

* Agreement between Wood County Schools and Mountain River Physical Therapy (the “clinic”) to provide clinical hours for the students enrolled in programs at the Wood County Technical Center and Caperton relating to Allied Health, Medical Skills, and Sports Medicine

* YMCA swim contract in the amount of $3,000 for the 2024-2025 swim season for the Parkersburg High School swim team