West Virginia School Boards Association

Dr.

O’Cull, Howard M.,  Ed.D., has spent his career as an employee of the West Virginia School Board Association, joining the organization in July 1978 upon graduation from college. He became executive director in 1985 – the organization’s third executive director.  During his tenure, O’Cull, working with the WVSBA Executive Board, has stressed high accountability for county boards of education and county board members. The Association has one of the most comprehensive school board member training programs in the nation and the only having external governance through a statutorily-established  training committee. Its 25 members include representatives of various constituencies such as legislators, businesspersons and school employee organizations.

In terms of legislation, the Association has initiated required annual county board evaluation, required superintendent evaluation and similar measures. Among other state-level appointments and commitments, O’Cull serves as a member of the Governor’s 21^st Century Jobs Cabinet and, in this capacity, recently chaired a charter schools and education reform task force.

A prolific writer – his undergraduate degree is in journalism – O’Cull is editor of  The Legislature, the state’s best-known education publication. In terms of national service, he served as a member and helped draft the final report of the Twentieth  Century Task Force on School Governance (1992), many of whose concepts, including a concentration on county board policy and policymaking as the dominant role of boards of education, have been incorporated into West Virginia’s training modules. His doctoral dissertation dealt with school board decision-making and the various “prompts” for such.  He initiated “Project Leadership,” a program for aspiring schools superintendents, which was funded solely through grants, state Department of Education and legislative appropriations.  (“Project Leadership” concepts have been incorporated into the West Virginia Department of Education’s educational leadership program).

He is an adjunct professor of educational leadership, president of St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church, Charleston, W. Va., and a single parent.  O’Cull is a native of the Blue Grass State, his ancestors having settled in Northern Kentucky during the late 1700s-early 1800s.