CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Board of Education elected a retired technology industry businessman as its new president.
Mike Green, of Morgantown, was appointed to the board in 2009 for a nine-year term. He’s served the board as vice president since 2013.
“I will do my very, very best to provide the best kind of education leadership I can for the children of West Virginia. It is about the kids. It’s not about the adults. And, we need to do a better job in providing with the great education they deserve,” Green promised shortly after taking the new role.
Since 1969, Green has worked as a software developer, sales manager for high-speed networking equipment, and later as a vice president and a field operations president for successful technology companies.
“I look as my experience in technology which is really important in the future as we roll out more and more technology and become so dependent on it as an advantage in my role as president of the state school board,” said Green.
After signing SB 359 in 2013, Governor Earl Ray Tomblin announced his collaboration with the WVBE to bring more technology and digital learning to the classroom.
The education reform bill required 180 classroom instruction days in each county. It expanded preschool and focused on students reading on grade level before leaving third grade. The legislation changed how AP classes and graduation rates are measured.
Those initiatives will continue to be important to the board said Green. “There are many ,many things we are going to work very closely with the Governor’s office and the legislature to make sure we look at those particular issues and try to solve more and more problems over the next year or two.”
Green is a father of 4 with 8 grandchildren. According to him, students should be viewed as clients and teachers as managers who have the tools they need in the classroom.
“Our children today have tremendous access to information. But, it takes a teacher to take that information and convert it to knowledge and something that’s going to be usable in their daily lives as they prepare for adulthood and for jobs,” Green explained.
Green replaces former first lady Gayle Manchin as WVBE president. Lloyd Jackson II takes Green’s former position as the board’s vice president. The board secretary is Tina Combs.
[“source – wvmetronews.com”]
