Wood BOE suspends WES principal
PARKERSBURG - The Wood County Board of Education Saturday voted to suspend Williamstown Elementary School Principal Heather Mannix Bretthauer pending outcome of an investigation.
The board met in special session Saturday, April 15, 2023, to review the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget for Wood County Schools.
The board voted 4-0, with board President Justin Raber recusing himself from the vote, for “Approval of paid suspension of employee 04.11.23.2 and continuation of paid suspension, pending outcome of investigation.”
Details of the suspension and investigation were not discussed in open session. Suspensions pending investigative outcomes are paid suspensions.
Wood County Schools is prohibited by law from discussing personnel issues or investigations. School board action on personnel items, however, is public record. Personnel items are identified by a number until a public vote when the person’s name is entered into the record.
An initial vote, also 4-0, had been taken at the board’s April 11 meeting, but Bretthauer’s name was not used. Saturday’s vote corrected the oversight.
Bretthauer has not been at the school since March 3.
Retired Wood County Schools Administrator Keith Palmer is acting principal at Williamstown Elementary School.