County Level Responsibilities:
Students who are selected will
be notified by Governor Tomblin. School and county officials are not
to release that information until the letters from the governor have been
mailed.
- Superintendent shall select a county coordinator for Governors Schools, e-mail coordinator’s name, county, and e-mail address to sherry.l.keffer@wv.gov. The county coordinator will oversee the county selection process, including the following:.
- Set a deadline for applications that dovetails with the state deadline and issue this deadline to each secondary school in the county, including private and parochial schools. Home-schooled students are eligible, but it is the responsibility of the parents to contact the county coordinator.
- Remember that the applications MUST include first semester grades.
- Direct counselors to guidet each qualified junior to the website.
- Establish a selection committee composed of the superintendent or designee, a teacher of gifted, a teacher of high level courses from each participating high school in the county, a technical education teacher, an alumnus of GHA, a counselor, and others at the discretion of the superintendent.
- At the committee meeting, review all applications and rank the recommended applications, taking into consideration the school representation, geographic, gender, race, and economic distribution of students. One male student and one female student shall be selected as Superintendents Choices. The committee should rank all other students. This ranking will serve as one of the selection criteria for the state committee.
Note: Many counties, especially ones with several high schools, include an interview as part of the selection process and have found this to be an excellent component of the selection process.
- Send Superintendent’s Selection Form and original of all recommended, completed applications to West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts by March 9, 2012. DO NOT PUT APPLICATIONS IN A BINDER OF ANY TYPE.
- Incomplete applications will be returned to the Superintendent of Schools and will not be considered until they are completed.
School Level Responsibilities
- Inform all qualifying students of their eligibility. Speak with students about themerit of GHA. If a student from your school attended last year, have him/her speak to prospective students. Show GHA dvd to prospective applicants, or show it through Channel 1 to all students.
- Tell students that the application is available on line and guide them to it.
- For students who do not have home Internet access, provide an opportunity for the student to complete the application using a school computer.
- Set a due date for students to submit applications at the school level. Remember that the county must submit superintendent's selections and alternates no later than March 9.
- Be certain to include first-semester/first-term
grades.
- Establish a selection committee composed of the principal or designee, a teacher of gifted or high level courses, the counselor, a technical education teacher, an alumnus of GHA if possible, and others at the discretion of the principal.
- Meet with selection committee to review all applications and rank the recommended applications for the county selection team.
- Send applications and rankings to county selection coordinator, using the Principal's Recommendation Form. Check to see that the pages are stapled and ordered numerically, with the essay and transcript/test record at the end.. DO NOT SEND PHOTOGRAPHS; DO NOT PUT APPLICATIONS IN A BINDER OF ANY TYPE, AND DO NOT FASTEN WITH PAPER CLIPS.
Student Responsibilities
.
- The first step to applying to GHA is to be sure you meet the proper requirements.
- The application itself is in two parts.
- Submit Part I via the Internet no later than February 20, 2012..
- Download and save Part II. Complete the application, keeping the pages in numerical order, followed by the essay and test records/transcript. They should simply be stapled in the upper left corner.No paper clips or binders, please. Keep the pages in numerical order, followed by the essay and testrecords/transcript. If your counselor wants them unstapled, tell him/her to have the county coordinator staple before mailing.
- Ask your teachers for letters of recommendations well before the school deadline.
- Ask your guidance counselor for the school timelines.
Submit the completed application to your counselor.
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