GLENVILLE, West Virginia, July 21, 2023 — In early November 2022, Dr. Tony Minney was appointed as the interim Superintendent of Gilmer County Schools (GCS). Since then, his remarkable leadership and dedication to continuous improvement have earned him the full-time position, and he aims to collaborate with all stakeholders to usher in an era of progress, innovation, and transformational change which will maximize learning outcomes for all students in GCS.
For Dr. Minney, Gilmer County has always been where his heart is, having been born and raised on a farm near Tanner, WV. Born into a family of educators, he felt a calling to education as a means to give back to the community that he loved. “My family has tons of educational ties. My dad was a longtime principal and superintendent in the county. All of my family – my extended family – most of them were teachers”, Minney stated. “When I went to college, I was looking for something that I could give back to the community with. I found education, and I knew it was what I was called to do.”
After finding his passion for education, Dr. Minney graduated from Glenville State University (then Glenville State College) and immediately began working as a Technology Integration Specialist (TIS) for GCS. Even in his early years as an educator, Dr. Minney had an eye for educational leadership and building frameworks that fostered positive growth within the school system through his work as faculty senate president as well as his involvement in strategic planning efforts within the district. Recognizing his potential as an instrument of change, Minney was eager to pursue an administration degree. A short time later, he earned his Masters in Educational Leadership from Marshall University.
As an administrator, Minney enkindled positive change in both elementary and secondary systems, as he worked at both Pleasant Hill Elementary and later Braxton County High School, where he worked with a variety of teams to lead the charge for continuous improvement. Both of those schools exhibited remarkable change, with Braxton County High School earning the status as a West Virginia High School of Excellence. With the aim of honing his skills and learning from high-performing schools, Minney accepted a position with the West Virginia Department of Education as the Coordinator for School Improvement and Professional Learning. “[The position] built a big network of people. I got to be able to go out and see how high quality school systems function.” Minney stated. “I got to see the different models of continuous improvement and take part in those efforts”.
Dr. Minney left the position at the WVDE to return to Braxton County Schools as administrator, now armed with new strategies and ideas that would inspire the district to make transformational change. Additionally, to further his skills as an administrator, Minney earned a Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Transformational change from the University of New England in 2017. During his tenure at Davis Elementary school, he catalyzed efforts that led to its designation as a West Virginia School of Excellence as well before returning to Braxton County High School as principal.
For most Appalachians, home is where the heart is, and the opportunity to return to Gilmer County came about when Patricia Lowther – long time superintendent of Gilmer County Schools – retired in late 2022. Dr. Minney is thrilled to return to his home district and to empower students in GCS to reach new heights. “[To] be here and give back to this community: that would be my ultimate goal”, Minney stated. “I always had it in the back of my mind that I would be [back] here one day.” For the immediate future, Dr. Minney is laser-focused on the county’s goals and learning targets for reading and math, and he intends to leverage the various programs in the school system to improve proficiency rates and accountability measures in areas where the district has deficiencies. He shared that, over the past year, the district has started to see growth already in those areas and that the schools will continue to set the bar higher. Additionally, another area of emphasis for GCS is attendance rates. Minney hopes to continue to sponsor attendance initiatives in order to reduce the chronically absenteeism rate by 5%.
The new mission statement for Gilmer County Schools, “Empower, Inspire, Engage”, is illustrative of Superintendent Minney’s strategy for continuous improvement and transformational change in the school system. Minney exemplifies the belief that substantive change is driven by the unification of stakeholders, community members, teachers, staff, and students in an effort to bring about change that will result in positive learning outcomes for all students. Reflective of that approach. the mission statement was developed by a team of individuals. The message represents exactly what we want do to with these children”, Minney stated. “We want to empower them, inspire them, and engage them on a daily basis.”
Dr. Minney expressed his enthusiasm for the fall semester to begin, and is eager to work closely with various teachers, students, and stakeholders to monitor the impact of new programming and personnel changes on student achievement. He intends to leverage his knowledge and the expertise of GCS teachers and staff to implement a research-supported, data-driven approach to engender measurable progress with the goal of making Gilmer County Schools one of the highest performing districts in the state. “I hope to bring that knowledge here to get our system – both at the elementary and high school – to become schools of excellence”, Minney said. I know that it’s going to be a reality. There’s no doubt. I believe, with the right amount of work, that Gilmer County High School and Gilmer County Elementary School can be schools of excellence.”
Visible leadership is a core tenet of the Superintendent’s philosophy, and Dr. Minney frequently visits the school buildings of Gilmer County High School and Gilmer Elementary School in order to assess needs, provide support, and celebrate success in the district. Minney’s approach seeks to gather valuable qualitative data and foster collaborative solutions to problems in conjunction with the data-driven strategies. “I use that approach”, Minney claimed. “I find that expert teachers kind of have an insight of how things are through experience. I try to dig into that and build off of those things.”
Minney hopes to build upon existing support networks and work closely to unite the community with the common purpose of giving the children of Gilmer County the best educational experience and outcomes possible. He further clarified his intention to be a visible leader with an open-door policy, and hopes that those with concerns or issues will reach out. “I want to respond to those issues and help people”, Minney said. “I’m here to help the community and be a part of it. It’s the community where I grew up. - it’s home, so it’s personal to me. To reach the needs of all of our learners. That’s what I want to do – to inspire that change.”