POINT PLEASANT — At a previous meeting of the Mason County Board of Education, board members suspended two employees whose names have since been released with the board meeting minutes.
The two employees suspended from Dec. 21 through Jan. 1 without pay were Leon Elementary School Teacher Connie McCarty and Bus Operator Les Hanson, on grounds contained in a private letter from Superintendent Suzanne Dickens to the Board. Board members approved the action to suspend McCarty and Hanson at a recent meeting.
Following this action, Dickens told the Point Pleasant Register the suspended employees’ offenses were of a non-violent nature, and there was never a concern for student safety.
As previously reported, the names of the suspended employees were not published in the meeting’s agenda, and according to an open meetings advisory opinion from the West Virginia Ethics Commission Committee on Open Governmental Meetings, the names of said employees become public record only after a disciplinary decision is made. Although disciplinary action prompts the release of employees’ names, the Board is not required to release information related to the employees’ offenses.






