Formal Complaint Submitted 2/23/26

 

To: West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE), Office of Legal Services & Office of PK-12 Academic Support

West Virginia Department of Education

1900 Kanawha Boulevard East

Charleston, West Virginia 25305 

From: Nornan Alderman

135 Fossil Lane

Marlinton, West Virginia 

Date: 2/23/2026 

Subject: FORMAL COMPLAINT AND REQUEST FOR INVESTIGATION – Willful Statutory Non-Compliance and Clinical Endangerment by the Pocahontas County Board of Education

To the Respective Investigative Authorities of the West Virginia Department of Education:

I am submitting this formal complaint to urgently request an investigation into the Pocahontas County Board of Education and Superintendent Dr. Leatha Williams. On January 27, 2026, the board voted 4-to-1 to permanently abolish the mandated professional school counselor position at Pocahontas County High School (PCHS). To remediate this vacancy, the board has approved the employment of an uncertified "academic/graduation coach" and is improperly utilizing classroom/homeroom teachers to manage the mental and emotional welfare of its 833 students.

This administrative action prioritizes clerical convenience over student survival, blatantly violating state statutory mandates, endangering student welfare, and exposing the district to massive legal liabilities.

I. Violation of Legal Requirements for School Counselors

The board's substitution of a clinical professional with an administrative coach represents a severe departure from West Virginia law:

• W. Va. Code §18-5-18b Mandates: The law explicitly dictates that "each county board shall provide counseling services for each pupil" through a "professional educator" holding a valid school counselor certificate. An academic coach requires no clinical counseling certification.

 

• The 80/20 Rule Violation: Under §18-5-18b(f), school counselors are legally mandated to spend at least 80% of their time in direct, therapeutic counseling relationships with students to address academic, social, emotional, and physical needs. Administrative and clerical tasks (like transcribing grades and tracking graduation credits) are strictly capped at 20%. By hiring a graduation coach whose entire scope of practice is restricted to clerical and academic tracking, the board has entirely eliminated the 80% clinical requirement mandated by the state.

II. Dangers to Student Welfare and Clinical Safety

By abolishing this position, the board has created a dangerous "clinical vacuum" in mental health oversight, crisis intervention, and social-emotional learning.

• Loss of Crisis Intervention: Certified counselors are the primary gatekeepers for mental health screening in schools. Without a clinical expert on-site to conduct suicide risk assessments or threat assessments, students exhibiting warning signs of suicidal ideation or potential violence are likely to go unnoticed by a coach focused solely on credit recovery.

 

• Unqualified Staff Managing Trauma: Because the clinical needs of the students remain, the "80% vacuum" of mental health support has defaulted to homeroom teachers. These educators entirely lack the therapeutic certification and clinical training required to safely manage complex adolescent behavioral crises, grief, and trauma.

 

• Denial of Special Education Rights: School counselors are vital "related service" providers under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Section 504. Abolishing the counselor position effectively ensures that highly vulnerable students with emotional and behavioral disabilities will be denied their federally mandated Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE).

III. Potential Institutional and Personal Liabilities

The decision to remove a clinical expert and replace them with an unqualified employee creates a cascade of severe liabilities that far exceed the district's cited budgetary savings:

• Institutional Financial Penalties: The district is now in a state of "statutory non-compliance". This exposes the school system to U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) investigations, federal lawsuits for "educational malpractice," and pro rata reductions in the county's state aid funding.

 

• Personal Liability for Board Members: The four board members who voted in the affirmative have engaged in a prima facie case of neglecting their duty to provide mandated services. Public officials lose "qualified immunity" when they act in bad faith or violate a "clearly established statutory right," exposing these members to removal from office under W. Va. Code §6-6-7 and leaving them personally liable for legal defense costs.

 

• Liability of the Superintendent: By recommending the abolishment of a legally mandated position instead of utilizing state-approved workarounds—such as contracting with external mental health agencies (Seneca Mental Health) or utilizing "Critical Need" substitutes—Superintendent Williams has arguably committed "willful neglect of duty," which constitutes grounds for dismissal under W. Va. Code §18A-2-8.

IV. Call for Immediate Investigation and Action

The state's task following the 2025 State of Emergency was to mandate that Pocahontas County establish a functional, certified counseling framework—not to delete the counselor from the organizational chart entirely.

I formally urge the WVDE to initiate an immediate investigation into this vote and mandate the following corrective actions:

1. Immediate Rescission: Force the Pocahontas County Board of Education to hold an emergency meeting to rescind the abolishment of the counselor position and reinstate it as a certified professional slot.

 

1. Enforcement of the 80/20 Rule: Ensure any personnel operating in a counseling capacity is legally protected from performing clerical tasks for more than 20% of their time.

 

1. Mandated Clinical Coverage: If a traditional hire cannot be immediately secured, mandate the district to legally contract with a Qualified Mental Health Professional (QMHP) or an external mental health agency to fill the current clinical vacuum.

Failure to intervene allows administrative convenience to supersede the statutory right to therapeutic care, leaving the students of PCHS in a state of clinical abandonment. I look forward to your prompt investigation into this urgent matter.

Complaint 

normanalderman@yahoo.com

304-799-7374