SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The BridgeValley Board of Governors voted to fire President Eunice Bellinger after an executive session during the board’s meeting Friday in South Charleston.
“Do I have a motion to terminate Dr. Eunice Bellinger for cause?” BOG Chairwoman Ashley Deem asked.
After receiving a motion and seconding motion, Deem asked for discussion, there was none. The board then voted in favor of the motion.
Bellinger received a vote of ‘no confidence’ from the school’s faculty in May.
There are several new members on the BridgeValley board.
The BOG Dr. Casey Sacks as acting president. Sacks has been acting vice chancellor of the state community and technical college system.
“I am excited for Dr. Sacks to join us at BridgeValley. She has an impressive background and I am confident that she will move the campus in the right direction so that we can best serve our students and support our faculty, staff, and community,” Chairwoman Deem said in a statement issued Friday afternoon.
Sacks said she was looking forward to the opportunity.
“The students, faculty, and staff at the college have always impressed me. I look forward to getting to know everyone better and help the college to move forward,” Sacks said. “I know first-hand how life changing community colleges can be in students’ lives. It’s an honor to support our students in West Virginia,” Sacks said.
Sacks also served for a time in the U.S. Department of Education in the Trump administration.
The board said it would begin a search for a new president.
Bellinger had a back and forth with a few board members during the BOG’s May meeting over whether the West Virginia Regional Technology Park in South Charleston, where the school is located, is environmentally safe. The state DEP declared the campus safe in that meeting.
“My only concern was that this be looked into, and you have looked into it,” Bellinger said.
Board member Mark Blankenship wanted elaboration. “I’m asking if you are satisfied with this presentation that has occurred.”
Bellinger pointed toward others who raised environmental concerns with her and said she can’t be the judge.
“I have no ability to make that decision myself,” she said. “I asked for a presentation to be done, and it has been done. I never said I wasn’t comfortable. I said there were concerns and they should be addressed.”
Deem pressed for clarity.
“I just want to feel comfortable that the president and the board are on the same page,” Deem said.
Bellinger: “I am confident that the situation has been looked into. I cannot speak for all the people who have brought concerns to me over the years.”
Deem: “Are the board and the president on the same page?”
Bellinger: “I would say the board and the president are on the same page.”
The president concluded, “If this is what the board wants to do, I support the board.”
At an earlier May meeting, the community college board officially withdrew from a master plan that included a stalled proposal to leave the Tech Park and relocate to the long-vacant Stone & Thomas building in downtown Charleston.