by Kate Evans
The Morgan County School Board honored longtime county school PASS coordinator Karen Whisner at their December 17 meeting for 25 years of service to the school system.
Whisner, of Great Cacapon. is retiring as the coordinator of the countywide student support program, Providing Academic and Self-Esteem Support (PASS), and stepping down as Widmyer Elementary’s PASS coordinator.
PASS volunteers from the community meet with an individual student for a minimum of a half an hour every week during the school year. They help kids with schoolwork and homework, engage in educational activities and games and become a mentor and friend.
Whisner said she started out as a school PASS coordinator, then became the county PASS coordinator. She also was on the substitute secretary list for a while.
“I have never known a bigger advocate for children than you. You are relentless,” School Superintendent David Banks said to Whisner.
The program started out small and mighty and became one that everyone wanted to be a part of, he noted. Banks said there have been challenges for the PASS program, such has having to institute background checks and finding volunteers, but Whisner still persevered.
Whisner has trained hundreds of PASS volunteers and school PASS coordinators over the years. Some PASS volunteers have stayed with their student all through school from kindergarten through high school graduation, she said.
Some volunteers have mentored multiple kids.
Former PASS volunteer Gerald Chaskes worked with 63 students during his 18 years with the PASS program, Whisner noted. Chaskes passed away in 2022.
Banks said that Whisner’s late husband Thurmond Whisner was a big supporter of the PASS program. The PASS program had a very small budget. Thurmond would always tell her to go get what she needed for the program, Whisner said.
School board president Aaron Close said he wanted to say thank you to Whisner, who he called “a very special lady,” and noted the great impact she has had through the PASS program.
“The kids you’ve helped — it’s immeasurable,” Close said.
Whisner said that so many kids have come back and told her how much the PASS program helped them.
School board vice-president Laura Smith said that Whisner has always been passionate and a great cheerleader for kids.
“Thank you for all you’ve done,” Smith said.
Whisner said that the PASS scholarship will still be intact.
Last year and the previous year, they gave out a $1,000 scholarship each year. The Thurmond Whisner scholarship gave out $3,500 over the last two years.
Superintendent David Banks said so much of the program consisted of matching the right adult to the right child. There’s a lot to the program and Whisner managed it very well.
“She did a lot for our students,” Banks stressed.
Whisner received a certificate and a bell honoring her outstanding service to the children of Morgan County Schools.
photo by Betsy Buser
