| The WV Board of Education has approved the removal of a $600 supplement salary received by all Calhoun teachers and service personnel, according to Calhoun Superintendent of Schools Tim Woodward.
The county system, which has had an $800,000 deficit, is considering a number of belt-tightening measures to balance a budget.
The deficit, according to school officials, is primarily related to declining school enrollment, which affects the per pupil funding received from the State of West Virginia.
Legislative efforts to support rural, small enrollment counties at a minimum level under the school funding formula has not helped counties like Calhoun.
Calhoun is one of about a dozen West Virginia counties that does not have a school operating levy.
Calhoun voters narrowly defeated an operating levy during the May Primary Election.
Woodward told the Hur Herald that school board members have been advised of a legal opinion provided by the system's attorneys Bowles-Rice regarding voting on school expulsions in an executive session and not announcing expulsion outcomes.
Woodyard says the exclusion has been upheld in the WV court system, although it is contradictory to the WV Open Meetings Act.
The Hur Herald has maintained that expulsion decisions and outcomes should be public information.
Expulsion outcomes are made public by Calhoun Schools if parents opt to have an open expulsion hearing.
Woodyard, following an information request, did say that 20 students had been expelled from the school system during the 2013-14 school year for drug or behavioral problems.
At least eight other students were considered by the Calhoun Board of Education for expulsion, related to the students entering Calhoun Middle-High School and Arnoldsburg Elementary School without permission.
The expulsions of two students, Slider and Sheldon, both 18, were stopped by a permanent injunction issued by Judge David W. Nibert. Criminal charges for loitering against the two were brought in Calhoun Magistrate Court.
The school board reportedly voted against expulsions of six other students involved in the incidents, according to family accounts, although sources told the Hur Herald, juvenile criminal charges were later brought against the six.
Since juvenile charges are not public record, the outcomes will not be officially reported.
The school board is moving forward selling the old Arnoldsburg Grade School, by bids, and replacing key administrative positions at Calhoun Middle-High School and Pleasant Hill Elementary School.
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