The Next 4 Years of Pocahontas County High School?

 The Next 4 Years of Pocahontas County High School?

The remediation of the Pocahontas County High School (PCHS) state of emergency resulted in a profound structural shift in how the district manages student welfare. In response to widespread transcript fraud, scheduling failures, and security breaches, the Board of Education prioritized mechanical, administrative fixes and physical security over clinical and therapeutic care.

If these protocols remain in place over the next four years, the student body will navigate an educational environment characterized by a dangerous "clinical vacuum," where behavioral issues and mental health crises are treated as disciplinary or clerical problems rather than psychological needs.

The Consequences of Abolishing the School Counselor

The most significant change was the board's decision to permanently abolish the certified school counselor position, citing a $1.8 million budget deficit and an inability to recruit a qualified applicant. By law, a certified counselor is mandated to spend 80% of their time providing direct therapeutic services, including individual counseling, suicide risk assessments, and preventative mental health programming.

• The Impact: Removing this role eliminated the only professional qualified to provide short-term therapeutic interventions for trauma, grief, anxiety, and behavioral issues. For the next four years, students experiencing a mental health crisis will lack an on-site clinical advocate, significantly increasing the probability of "worst-case" outcomes, such as unchecked suicidal ideation or school violence. Furthermore, special education students who require counseling as a "related service" under federal law risk being denied a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE).

Transition to Academic Coaching Instead of Mental Health Counseling

To replace the counselor, the district instituted a "Dean of Students" (filled by a former 5th-grade teacher) and a "Graduation Coach". These roles were created to fix the clerical errors that triggered the state intervention, such as transcript tracking and master scheduling.

• The Impact: A Graduation Coach is legally barred from providing therapeutic intervention. Over the upcoming four years, students will be guided by "academic mechanics" who focus solely on graduation rates, credits, and barrier identification. If a student requires help navigating severe depression or complex emotional trauma, the coach is neither trained nor legally authorized to provide clinical support.

The Hiring of a Former Police Officer (SSO)

Simultaneously, the district invested in the "securitization of the soul" by hiring an itinerant School Security Officer (SSO), Fred Herbert Barlow, a former law enforcement officer. The SSO role is tasked with surveillance, maintaining order, and crisis de-escalation.

• The Impact: The simultaneous hiring of a police presence while cutting clinical staff shifts the school's culture to a "military approach". Instead of preventing behavioral outbursts through therapeutic understanding, the school is now equipped primarily to physically detain or police students once a crisis boils over into a breach of the peace.

The Absence of a Counselor for Suspended Students

This misalignment is most dangerous when handling severe student misconduct. Under West Virginia disciplinary code (Policy 4373), "Level Three" offenses—such as battery, larceny, or threats of assault—require a student to be excluded from class. Crucially, the policy mandates that a "counselor or individual with behavioral expertise" must develop a re-entry plan for the suspended student.

• The Impact: Because the counselor was abolished, the school no longer has the state-mandated clinical expert to develop these restorative re-entry plans. Over the next four years, students who act out due to untreated trauma or a "deformed conscience" will be funneled directly to the SSO and the disciplinary side of the system. Without a clinical professional to conduct a "Functional Behavioral Assessment," these vulnerable students are far more likely to be criminalized and pushed into the juvenile justice system rather than rehabilitated.

The Future of PCHS Students (Four-Year Projection)

Looking ahead, the next four years of this protocol represent a highly rigid, transactional high school experience. The transcripts will be mathematically perfect, the master schedule will function efficiently, and the building will be physically secure. However, the emotional and psychological welfare of the students has been structurally abandoned. Students will be treated as "line items" in a system that prioritizes clerical compliance and police oversight over human empathy, resulting in a clinically unsafe environment for any adolescent navigating a mental health crisis.