MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Counselor and psychologist Melanie B. Rogers said creating well-rounded citizens is one of the most important jobs for a school system.
“Learning is not just academic,” she said this week on WAJR’s Morgantown AM. “We need to make sure that we’re attending to the emotional needs of our students as well.”
Rogers is a Morgantown native, WVU graduate, and has lived in the Morgantown area for the past two decades.
“It was something that I felt, more or less, compelled to do,” she said. “Because I just wanted to be able to offer something to the Board for our students, our faculty, and also the administrators.”
Rogers has a B.S. in Elementary Education, an M.A. in Counseling, and EdD in Educational Leadership Studies.
“I’ve been thinking about it for a couple of years,” she said. “I feel like this was just maybe the right time for me to do it.”
Rogers runs a private practice in Morgantown where she counsels primarily adolescents and children.
“I feel like there’s a lot that’s been going on nationally in terms of mental health and the well-being of students, and I feel like that’s something that I could definitely bring to the table,” she said.
Rogers said she supported the work stoppage led by teachers and school service personnel that cancelled nine instructional days of school.
“We’re very competitive nationally, but we need to make sure we are tending to the academic needs of our students as well and making sure that we are providing the best education and that we have the best teachers, obviously,” she said. “We want to make sure we can retain them as well.”
The impending retirement of Dr. Frank Devono and the June 1 deadline to announce a hire and offer that person a multi-year contract has created a unique dynamic in how and when the next Superintendent of Monongalia County schools will be hired, Rogers said.
Even if a hire is made before a new Board of Education is seated in July, she said she can still play a role in helping Dr. Devono’s successor.
“I do have a say in working with that individual and making sure that I can help facilitate that transition as well as I can as a board member, should I be elected.”
The last day to register to vote for the election is April 17.
Early voting begins April 25. Election Day is May 8.
This story is the second in a series of stories about the Board of Education candidates, who are appearing on Morgantown AM in the run up to the May 8 election.
We previously interviewed Gary Drvar, the first in this series. Read that here.