Friday's Internet Edition, November 21, 2008.

Karen Cummings was hired at a special school board meeting Tuesday. She will assume the duties of treasurer/chief school business official on July 1, when David Kinison retires from his position of chief financial officer and assistant superintendent.

Cummings graduated from Spencer High School in 1992 and three years later earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from West Virginia Wesleyan College. She passed the CPA exam that fall.

She spent two years with an accounting firm in Charleston and earned a master’s degree in business administration from Marshall University.

From 1997 to 2003 she worked for the W.Va. Dept of Education as coordinator of school finance. Since 2003, she has been treasurer for the Wirt County school system.

She is married to Ben Cummings, a former assistant principal at Roane County High School and now assistant director of Roane-Jackson Technical Center. The couple has two children and lives in Spencer.

Roane Superintendent Steve Goffreda said Cummings was highly qualified.

“I think we hit the jackpot,” he said. “We’re getting a top-notch person.”

Cummings will be the first CPA to hold the position.

“We were thrilled she applied,” Goffreda said. “We feel like we are facing a lot of challenges in the next few years and she’s done all the things we need here.”

Board member Joe Painter, a retired school administrator, said he spoke with Cummings often after he became assistant superintendent. She was working at the State Dept. of Education at the time.

“I know she is well qualified,” he said. “She taught me a lot and we are lucky to get her.”

Cummings said she wanted to work closer to home and looked forward to the challenges of managing a $23 million budget. The Wirt County school system has a budget of $9 million.

“This is where I grew up,” she said. “This is home.”

Cummings was hired with a salary index of 1.2, which means she will earn 20 percent more than a teacher with the same education and years of experience. In addition, she will be paid an annual supplement of $13,662 for being a CPA. The contract has 40 days of extended employment beyond the normal 200 days.

The only other item on Tuesday’s agenda dealt with a countywide maintenance employee placed on the Reduction in Force list for the upcoming school year.

At the last board meeting, a motion to reassign Roger Starcher to a new position at Roane County High School as custodian III/general maintenance/carpenter/truck driver was defeated on a 2-2 vote.

After a 40-minute executive session Tuesday, the board voted 3-2 to appoint Starcher to the new position, which has 61 days extended employment like the position is currently holds.

Board president Randy Whited changed his vote to “Yes,” making the difference. But Whited made it clear he hoped to see the countywide maintenance position restored in the following year’s budget.

“I feel we need three maintenance people, and I will work to get that back,” he said. “But my main concern now is to keep Roger a job.”

A regular custodian’s position at the high school was cut during the RIF process.

If Starcher was not awarded the new position, Goffreda said the board would need to restore both his current position and the RCHS custodian’s job. He said the cuts were necessary because declining enrollment meant a loss in state funds.

“We lost about 50 students since last year and if you multiply that by $4,000 each you will see what I’m talking about,” Goffreda said.

Painter and David McCutcheon voted in favor of giving Starcher the new position, as they did at the previous meeting. Tom Young voted against the motion both times. Russell Moore abstained from the first vote but voted “No” Tuesday, leaving it up to Whited to break the tie.