Marion County Schools in session, metal detector use could expand

FAIRMONT, W.Va. – Students in Marion County Schools have completed their first week in the classroom and are establishing their routine for the remainder of the fall semester.

On WAJR’s “Talk of the Town,” Superintendent Dr. Donna Heston said she was very proud of the level of effort put forth by their staff to prepare the buses and buildings for the semester.

“It really was just wonderful to be out and about among our service personnel, our custodians, out maintenance as well as our teacher just to see the number of hours they put into making that special day for our students,” Heston said.

As with all districts, Heston has staffing issues across the district with service personnel and teachers in subjects like math, science, and special education. In the classroom, Heston has been able to work with Fairmont State University to fill some needs and career fair-type events have been used to fill bus driver positions.

“In that hiring event we had 15 individuals that took that opportunity to drive a school bus,” Heston said. ” Out of that 15 we had about seven of them go to the substitute list and that’s something we really need.”

This is the second year for metal detectors made possible by Marion County Commissioners and Marion County Homeland Security. Last spring, the devices were deployed to the high schools and could be used at other school events through the year.

“It really has got to the point that it does not impeded the students’ entry very much at all, we’ve learned as we’ve done that,” Heston said. “Some of our schools have even deployed then at extracurricular events, not just school days.”

Mental health continues to be a major issue in Marion County for the team of student support workers. Heston said the mental health issues became very apparent when students came back to the classroom following pandemic classroom shutdowns.

“I think if you talk to any of our counselors or social workers they will tell you student anxiety and depression are high-flying needs for our students,” Heston said. ” We saw that when we returned.”

Standardized testing scores for Marion County Schools for the 2022-23 school year rank in the top 10 of districts statewide. Heston credits the work of teachers and support staff in navigating the difficult move to virtual instruction and the return to the classroom.

“At one point there were 2,000 of our nearly 7,000 students that were in a virtual learning environment and they didn’t have a teacher face-to-face in front of them,” Heston said. ” When we came back from the pandemic our staff really buckled down to work those interventions and to meet student needs.”