Randolph BOE candidates address consolidation questions
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ELKINS -- Candidates for the Randolph County Board of Education addressed questions about possible consolidation within the school system during a "Meet the Candidates Night" this week.
The event was sponsored by the GFWC Woman's Club of Elkins and was moderated by Dr. David Turner. Incumbents Amanda Smith and Rachel Anger, and newcomers Ed Daniels and Anita Thompson were asked a series of questions from both Turner and community members in attendance.
Sarah Wamsley, a teacher at Midland Elementary School, said, "I'm here to ask two big questions that is on every teacher's brain in Randolph County right now. First and foremost, guys, what is your take on consolidation? And what is your take on rezoning? We have classrooms in Randolph County that have 13 kids, and then we have classrooms in Randolph County at the same grade level that have 28. We have some really big discrepancies there."
Thompson, who was a student during the Coalton consolidation with Elkins back in 1993, was the first to answer.
"As for the rezoning, I don't know a lot of the details about how that works," Thompson said. "I think it's definitely unfair to have class sizes that are differentiated, because it seems like the numbers are definitely going down in the county with not a lot of people coming in. So I think those could be divided a little bit better.
"As for consolidation, I came from a school that was consolidated and I think I turned out fine. Sometimes it has to be done and it was a scary thing at the time it was happening, but I enjoyed my time very much where I was and how I ended up. So I think consolidation is probably a thing a lot of counties face, and sometimes is something that has to be looked at."
Anger was second to field the question, saying the county needs to take a serious look at both rezoning and consolidation.
"During my time, we have not brought up rezoning in a formal setting. We have discussed it loosely, but I think it is something we need to look at to best utilize our resources," Anger said. "It is very difficult, though, because a lot of people buy a house in a certain area because they want their child to go to a certain school. So it's a very hard and a very sensitive topic, but certainly neighborhoods change.
"Consolidation is something that isn't fun and is something I don't want to do, but I want to provide a good quality education and provide the same opportunities for all of our kids, and we are really struggling to do that. It is very difficult to provide the same product in different areas, so I think we are going to have to look long and hard at that with our decrease in population."
Smith, who currently serves as president of the Randolph County Board of Education, was next to answer.
"I had a very good friend of mine recently ask me if I was for consultation, and I told them in my heart of hearts I wasn't really for it, but with what I now understand about our finances in Randolph County, sometimes those things have to happen," Smith said.
"Randolph County is so different from any other county in West Virginia. Our neighbors have counties with four or five schools, we have 14, and that's really hard to operate with 14 buildings. Consolidation is not something you want to see, but then I look at the children in those schools and wonder if we are giving them the quality education they deserve. And you really have to think long and hard to answer that.
"I don't believe that every student in Randolph County is educated to their fullest potential, because of the resources we have," she said. "I would love to see every child in Randolph County have the same resources."
Daniels, a former school bus driver for Randolph County Schools, was last to answer Wamsley's questions.
"Consolidation of schools is a big topic and I drove a bus for 13 years, and in Elkins it always baffled me because it seemed every time I turned around I would always have to go back to the school I just left," Daniels said. "The schools in Elkins are fairly close, they are spread out but they are close, there's different districts and wards. Can they consolidate? Possibly, I'd have to investigate further.
"One of the things that leads me to that is the cost of maintenance on these older buildings. If we are fixing four buildings with $1.8 million, or spending $1.6 million for a partial roof repair, how many of those buildings do we have to fix before we build a new school… Consolidation in the Elkins area could possibly work, I'm not for sure. But I've heard talk about the consolidation of schools like Harman and Tygarts Valley, and if you go chucking those kids that far, it's not going to work. I've been a bus driver, you can't do that. There's somethings to think about there."
Robin Sinor and Paul Louk are also running for the Randolph County Board of Education in the May 14 primary election. Both were invited to the event, but did not attend.