Charleston , Kanawha County , West Virginia

For the second time in as many weeks, the state school board votes to fire Superintendent Jorea Marple. In another marathon meeting, dozens came out in her support, as the meeting ended with an apology from the school board president.

"While it's your right to hire and fire at will, we are shocked at Dr. Marple's abrupt termination and the manner in which it was conducted," said one of her supporters.

"The only decision the public can draw is that this was a political decision made behind closed doors," said another.

Teachers, parents, and education leaders expressed their outrage over Marple's termination.

"Please do the right thing. We are only here for a little while, remember the golden rule, 'do unto others and you would have them do unto you,'" said former state BOE president Dolores Cook.

Concerns about whether the board had followed the state open meeting law on November 15, prompted Thursday's do-over. Despite pleas from the crowd, the board upheld it's decision to fire
Marple in a 6-2 vote.

"It is my position that it is no longer the will of the board to retain Dr. Marple as superintendent," BOE president Wade Linger said.

In a statement he wrote:

"We have received lots of reaction from the public asking us to give more detail about a very difficult decision the board made two weeks ago.

Providing the reasons for any termination often runs afoul to advice and caution given from other circles.

Nonetheless, it is our duty to be as open as possible with the public.

I believe that most of the board will agree that we need to provide more explanation than we have to date.

The following are just a few of my thoughts.

Everyone is familiar with the situation we find ourselves in regarding the litany of statistics related to student achievement and our rankings.

-West Virginia students rank below the national average in 21 of 24 categories measured by the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP).

-As a matter of fact, over the last decade, many of our NAEP scores have slipped instead of improving.

-Education Week’s most recent Quality Counts Report gave West Virginia an F in K-12 achievement.

-The statewide graduation rate is only 78 percent.

-1 in 4 of our high schools students in West Virginia do not graduate on time.

And these are just a few of our concerns.

We read all of these things in the papers. So do our friends and family, and we hear about them in business groups, social groups and education groups. School employees hear about them. Parents hear about them. Students hear about them. They are as frustrated as we are.

We are not saying that Superintendent Marple is any more responsible than governors, legislators, educators or board members for these shortcomings.

We are not here to affix blame today. However, we are charged with the general supervision of schools in West Virginia and we think the people of West Virginia deserve to have these problems fixed.

The board determined that in order to fix these problems we needed to head in a new direction with new leadership.

Some of the issues that caused board members to perceive a change was needed are the following:
1. Many members found no sense of urgency in the department to address some of the issues that have been outlined.
2. When discussing concerns, we often were met with excuses and not actions.
3. Too often we were told how things can’t change instead of being offered solutions.
4. When current practices were challenged, we often found people being defensive.

Considering everything just outlined in this statement, I believe we needed a change in direction and in order to do that, we needed a change in leadership."

After the vote, the board went back into executive session for another hour, and returned to say they had made no decision on hiring a new superintendent, but Linger expressed his desire to conduct a nationwide search.

"We have to have a nationwide search. We have to really get the very best person qualified for this job," said Haden. She also said she wasn't sure if she would still resign at the end of the year in protest of Marple's firing, now that they had expressed interest in conducting the nationwide search.

Linger refused on camera interviews following the meeting, but read a prepared statement.

"I have learned a lot of lessons over the past couple of weeks. I am just a businessman who was asked to serve on this state Board. I can see now why a lot of people don’t want to serve in state government. I approached this matter as a lot of businessmen would and I have now learned that you cannot always do that in the public sector.

Despite the difficulty of these decisions, I believe this is the right thing to do.

If I have made any mistakes over the past couple of weeks, I apologize to the people of West Virginia. It was always my intent to do the best I could for the students of West Virginia," he said.

A pending lawsuit is asking the supreme court to void Marple's firing under the open meeting law.

In the meantime, Chuck Heinlein will continue to act as state superintendent during the search for a new one, which could turn into a lengthy process. The board will further discuss the matter at a meeting next month.

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West Virginia's Board of Education has affirmed its firing of Jorea Marple as state schools superintendent.

The board voted 6-2 Thursday after public comment sharply critical of Marple's ouster. Nineteen people stood to praise Marple, denounce her firing or call for her reinstatement.

Thursday's vote followed a 90-minute closed door session by the board. Member Lloyd Jackson joined the five who had voted to fire Marple at a Nov. 15 meeting.

The board also met privately to discuss hiring a new superintendent, but took no action on that publicly. It instead plans to return to that topic in December.

Concerns about whether the board had followed the state open meetings law on Nov. 15 prompted Thursday's do-over. A pending legal challenge asks the Supreme Court to void Marple's firing under the open meetings law.

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West Virginia's Board of Education has affirmed its firing of Jorea Marple as state schools superintendent.

The board voted 6-2 Thursday after public comment sharply critical of Marple's ouster. Nineteen people stood to praise Marple, denounce her firing or call for her reinstatement.

Thursday's vote followed a 90-minute closed door session by the board. Member Lloyd Jackson joined the five who had voted to fire Marple at a Nov. 15 meeting.

Concerns about whether the board had earlier followed the state open meetings law prompted Thursday's discussion. A pending legal challenge asks the Supreme Court to void Marple's firing under the open meetings law.

Thursday's meeting agenda also includes the hiring of a new superintendent. Board President Wade Linger has endorsed Randolph County schools chief James Phares for the job.

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The West Virginia State Board of Education voted Thursday afternoon to uphold the firing of Jorea Marple as state superintendent of schools.

The state school board voted 6-2 to fire Marple.

The decision followed a public meeting where people had an opportunity to voice their opinions about the previous board decision to dismiss the superintendent.

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The West Virginia State Board of Education went into executive session Thursday afternoon before a packed audience where members of the public turned out to voice their comments about the firing of Jorea Marple as state schools superintendent.

The board heard Thursday from 19 speakers who praised Marple while denouncing her Nov. 15 dismissal.

They included Raleigh County visual arts teacher Sandra Shaw. She and other speakers called for Marple's reinstatement. The board then began meeting behind closed doors to discuss Marple's firing.

Concerns about whether the board had followed the state open meetings law prompted Thursday's meeting. A pending legal challenge asks the Supreme Court to void Marple's firing under the open meetings law.

Thursday's meeting agenda also includes the hiring of a new superintendent. Board President Wade Linger has endorsed Randolph County schools chief James Phares for the job.

Stay tuned to Eyewitness News for updates.

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It was standing room only at the State Board of Education meeting Thursday as the public was invited to attend the West Virginia's Board of Education meeting. Officials expected to hear an earful about its firing of Jorea Marple as state schools superintendent.

The board voted to dismiss Marple at a Nov. 15 meeting. But concerns over whether the board followed the state's open meetings law has prompted today's meeting to return to the topic.

Marple supporters plan to protest her firing and how it was handled.

But the meeting agenda also includes the hiring of a new superintendent. Board President Wade Linger has endorsed Randolph County schools chief James Phares for the job.

Keep checking wchstv.com for updates.

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