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ROMNEY, W.Va. (AP) — The superintendent of the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind plans to step down this summer after serving for four years.
Superintendent Lynn Boyer notified the West Virginia Board of Education last week that she will retire on June 30.
The board appointed Boyer to lead the school in 2011, a year after the institution was cited by the Office of Education Performance Audits for deficiencies in leadership, curriculum, safety and technology.
During Boyer's tenure, the school implemented a policy requiring all staff to be able to communicate with deaf students through sign language. Another policy requires child care worker to obtain an associate's degree, a change that drew protests from workers and parents.
Boyer also has pushed for state funding to renovate aging buildings on the campus in Romney.
"These last four years have certainly, by any measure, been years of change and innovation - and, in many cases, struggle. I am confident that the Schools are stronger now because of the efforts we have all made to build our instructional and residential programs, to upgrade and renovate our facilities, to solidify the administrative infrastructure, and to stand tall as the light of scrutiny has tested us," Boyer wrote in a letter to staff posted on the school's website.
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin vetoed a bill earlier this month that would have allowed the Schools for the Deaf and Blind to receive money from the School Building Authority, which provides funding to county school systems for construction and maintenance projects.
Boyer said in a letter to staff that her decision to retire was not related to actions by Tomblin and the Legislature. She said she wants to spend time with her family, including two grandsons who will be high school seniors in the next academic year.
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