Jason Collins and Misty Bodkin both spoke on the issue during the public comment section of Tuesday’s regular BOE meeting at the Central Office.

Collins, who is the parent of a second-grade student, told the board his son was transferred to different schools twice in two days.

“My complaint is that my 7-year-old son went to Midland for two years, kindergarten his first year, and then to first grade his second,” Collins said. “He started second grade this year and 30 minutes after he was dropped off at school, we got a phone call asking why he was there.”

Collins said that, without any advanced warning, they learned from the caller that his son had been transferred to a different school.

Jason Collins voiced his displeasure to the Randolph County Board of Education in Elkins.

“We were told that he was transferred to Third Ward,” Collins said. “We didn’t get a letter. We didn’t get a phone call. We didn’t get anything. Thirty minutes he was at that school.”

Collins said to make matters worse, after his son spent the day at Third Ward Elementary, the same thing happened again.

“He was a little upset going to Third Ward, but found out his cousin was going to be in the class, so he started settling down,” said Collins. “Then the next morning, his mom gets a phone call asking why our son was there. We were told that he was transferred to North School because that’s his zone.”

Collins said getting no advance notice that his son was being sent to a different school at the start of the school year was unacceptable.

“Why could we not get a phone call or a letter prior to us dropping our kid off?” Collins asked. “Three schools in 48 hours is ridiculous. Where is the communication? Do you guys communicate with each other every day? Once a week? You all know what’s going on, right? 

Misty Bodkin voiced her displeasure to the Randolph County Board of Education in Elkins.

“This is a 7-year old kid who spent the first 45 minutes of his second day of school crying in front of a bunch of other little kids. How does that make you feel? It makes me feel like crap. Makes me feel like I’m failing as a father, because I sent him to a school in this county that’s failing.”

Bodkin told the board she was unhappy with a decision made involving kindergarten students at North Elementary School.

“When the kids at North School left at the end of last year, they were under the assumption that they would have two kindergarten classes ready for the following year,” Bodkin said. “But within a day or two of school ending, they found out that Jennings (Randolph Elementary) would be getting the two classes, even though both schools have the same numbers.”

Bodkin said the issue of there being an overflow of kindergarten students at North School could have been handled differently, especially when it came to where the students were being moved.

“The logical thing would have been to send the North overflow to Third Ward (Elementary), which is the closest school,” said Bodkin. “Instead they sent them to Jennings – three buses to and from for one kid to go to Jennings. And they were willing to split siblings if they needed to.”

Schmidlen

Bodkin told the board that she met with Superintendent of Schools Debbie Schmidlen about the issue, but was unhappy with the results.

“We followed the proper channels and met with the superintendent, only to be lied to and talked down to,” said Bodkin. “Third Ward was not full at the time of their decision.

“She said that she knows all of the schools in Randolph County and said there was no way kids were out of zone. I guarantee there are. I saw the list and there are still kids in kindergarten out of zone. There are parents left with kids traveling back-and-forth.”

Bodkin believes some of the children picked for transfer reside in certain areas, such as the Heavner Acres Mobile Home Court. Bodkin claims Schmidlen knows the parents in that area will not respond or protest.

“Nothing’s a coincidence when it comes to the Board of Education,” Bodkin said. “(Schmidlen) thought these parents would not stand up and fight, but she was wrong. Some of us will stand up and fight for them.”

Bodkin said she took her complaints to the West Virginia Board of Education.

“I asked if we could complain about the superintendent and we were told the (Randolph) board members were her boss,” Bodkin said. “So when the opportunity came to talk to one of them, I jumped on it, of course.

“When I asked the board member about it, I was told ‘We can’t do anything, we can’t reprimand her, we can’t fire her, we can’t do anything.’ But the more I went through and the more that I researched it, I found out that was a lie.”

Bodkin said parents in the county are growing more irritated each day.

“In the first week and a half of school, so much has happened,” she said. “I don’t not want to speak on all the other issues, everyone else can speak on them. But I will continuously attend meetings for any issues that we don’t talk about tonight, so that they will go on public record.

“Our school system is failing our kids, we are not putting out kids first at this point… We want our kids first and we want our kids equal. Rich and poor, we don’t care, we want them all treated the same.”

Bodkin said she was aware that speaking out may create issues between her and the school system.

“There are not a lot of parents who will come here and talk because they are afraid of what is going to happen,” said Bodkin. “I know you guys know who my grandkids are because there have been little posts made out to let me know that everyone knows who my grandkids are. I will do whatever I can to protect them.

“Just because I spoke out, doesn’t mean my grandkids are open for fair game. So, I do have a lawyer on retainer just in case, because I feel that’s what most parents feel that they have to do if they want to come here and speak to you guys.”

As part of a BOE policy, board members do not respond to public comment during meetings. The board does, however, request follow-ups with the administration on items discussed.

The Inter-Mountain called Schmidlen’s office Wednesday morning requesting a response or comment on the situation, but the call was not returned by Wednesday evening.

Randolph County BOE meetings are held on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 5:30 p.m.