CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) is hosting regional school safety meetings starting this week.
County and school administrators will join the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), West Virginia Department of Homeland Security, the Fusion Center and the WVDE to discuss possible threats to child safety. The WVDE will also share information about new technology used for submitting annual school safety plans.
“The regional safety sessions serve several purposes, and all of them are designed to keep our children safe,” said Director of School Safety Jonah Adkins. “The FBI and Homeland Security understand the importance of public involvement, so this information is shared to increase awareness and prevent incidents that no one should ever experience.”
Jonah Adkins
The FBI will discuss online activity that students could get involved in. FBI special agents say they commonly look into hackers and adults that may be pretending to be juveniles and are engaging with children through social media or other online forms of communication.
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Schools and counties have at their use better technology tools to submit their annual safety plans with WVDE GPS, or Grants and Planning System. The program includes new features that allow educators to include important student information in emergency reunification plans.
When meeting with the state Board of Education recently, Adkins also mentioned the “See Send” App that can be used by students if they have safety concerns.
“Students can submit reports or concerns anonymously and those come to the school safety unit and are investigated,” he said.
Adkins told board members he’s big on getting communities more involved. He said they play just as vital of a role of keeping kids safe at school as anyone.
“Get the community to realize they’re importance in involvement in school safety and prevention,” he said.
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The first meeting is Tuesday, May 7, at the Embassy Suites, located at 300 Court Street in Charleston. The meeting will cover Boone, Cabell, Calhoun, Clay, Jackson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Logan, Mason, Mingo, Putnam, Roane, Wayne, Wirt and Wood counties.
The rest of the series of meetings are as followed:
Friday, May 10 – White Palace at Wheeling Park, Wheeling Barbour, Brooke, Doddridge, Hancock, Harrison, Lewis, Marion, Marshall, Monongalia, Ohio, Pleasants, Preston, Ritchie, Taylor, Tyler, Upshur, Wetzel counties
Monday, May 13 – West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, Lewisburg Braxton, Fayette, Gilmer, Greenbrier, McDowell, Mercer, Monroe, Nicholas, Pocahontas, Raleigh, Summers, Webster, Wyoming counties
Thursday, May 16 – West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind (WVSDB) Berkeley, Grant, Hampshire, Hardy, Jefferson, Mineral, Morgan, Pendleton, Randolph, Tucker counties and the WVSDB
West Virginia great Noel Devine is returning to Morgantown to join Rich Rodriguez’s staff as an offensive analyst, where the former star running back will reunite with the head coach who first recruited him to play for the Mountaineers. Devine, 36, announced the news Friday morning.
Devine, a former five-star recruit and one of the most exciting players of his generation, scored 31 touchdowns and amassed over 5,000 yards of total offense in his four-year career at West Virginia. Last summer his son Andre Devine signed with Rodriguez when he was the head coach at Jacksonville State.
Proud moment yesterday seeing my son Andre sign to JSU! Thank you Coach Rod and your coaching staff for welcoming my son with open arms. This means a lot to me and my family my son found a home. The Devine legacy continues with the same culture and traditions Rich Rod taught me pic.twitter.com/1JSVIKjV70
Devine was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2011 after going undrafted but was only with the team briefly in the summer before spending time in the CFL. He has been working in Florida running his own speed training company and helping mentor local kids in the area where he grew up.
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Devine was one of the first high school football recruits to go viral. His dazzling highlights took off on the internet starting in 2004 after Tampa-based Sunshine Preps, an independent recruiting service, posted footage of the 5-foot-7, 170-pound freshman’s varsity debut for North Fort Myers High the previous fall.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Governor Jim Justice has declared a state of preparedness for West Virginia ahead of incoming winter weather.
I’ve declared a State of Preparedness for all 55 West Virginia counties as we brace for incoming winter storms. Please take extra care over the next few days—look out for one another, stay safe, and keep warm.
The National Weather Service predicts a clipper system to come in on Friday, potentially bringing one to three inches of snow. NWS meteorologist Ray Young said that system could be arriving around rush hour.
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Saturday will be the coldest day of the chilly spell, with temperatures likely topping out in the upper-20’s in the lowlands with higher elevation areas potentially not making it out of the teens.
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