A BOE meeting will be held Thursday, Nov. 14 at 7:30 p.m. to vote on closing the Harman School. The board will meet Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. to vote on the proposed Pickens closure.

Dr. Shawn Dilly, the county superintendent of schools, proposed that students from Pickens be transferred to George Ward Elementary and Tygarts Valley Middle/High School, while students from Harman will be moved to Midland Elementary, Elkins Middle School and Elkins High School.

A total of seven hearings will take place in November at various Randolph County schools, allowing residents to weigh in on the proposed closings.

The hearing dates for schools being affected are Nov. 13, Harman (Harman, 6 p.m.); Nov. 14, Midland Elementary (EHS, 6 p.m.); Nov. 14, Elkins Middle School (EHS, 6:30 p.m.); Nov. 14, Elkins High School (EHS, 7 p.m.); Nov. 19, George Ward Elementary (TVHS, 6 p.m.); and Nov. 19, Tygarts Valley Middle/High School (TVHS, 6:30 p.m.).

Randolph County Schools Superintendent Dr. Shawn Dilly, center, is shown at Tuesday night’s Board of Education meeting, with Director of Finance Brad Smith, left, and Executive Secretary Vickie Dewitt.

During Tuesday night’s meeting, Dilly presented the CEFP (Comprehensive Educational Facilities Plan) Application for Amendment to the BOE, which it approved unanimously with a 4-0 vote.

“This Educational Facilities Plan is essentially the District’s plan for 10 years,” said Dilly. “So we have to do what we call amendments, so with the proposal surrounding the Tygarts Valley gym and classroom addition that was not on the original CEFP, and because of those changes, we are asking you to support the changes to the amendment so that it will correspond with the SBA (School Building Authority) needs project that was submitted.”

Dilly provided the BOE with initial drafts of Impact Documents that have been sent to the West Virginia Department of Education for review. Dilly plans to have the Impact Documents out to the public by Oct. 10.

The deadline to submit the BOE’s decision to the West Virginia State Board of Education is Nov. 29. If the Randolph BOE approves the closings in November, there will be a State Board of Education meeting in Charleston on Dec. 11 to vote on the closures.

Five residents from Harman and Pickens voiced their concerns with closing the schools during the public comment section of Tuesday’s meeting.

Sam Roy, a member of the Whitmer Fire Department, said, “There’s several things you need to take into consideration when closing these schools. This means busing approximately 106 children across Middle Mountain, Rich Mountain and Shavers Mountain. I travel these roads almost every day and they are really dangerous…

“During the winter it snows so much on these mountains that the state road can’t keep up with the amount of snow that is coming down. So, there are a lot of hazards involved here. When you think about it, is it worth losing one child’s life over money? It’s not to me.”

Beth Henry Vance, a parent of sixth-grade and third-grade students at Harman School, said, “My main concern is the travel dangers on the mountains between Harman and Elkins and the number of times poor road conditions would cause delays or prevent Harman students from attending school.

“In a mild winter this could easily cause Harman students to fall five or six days behind other students… There have been several days each winter when Elkins had rain but the mountains were covered with ice and snow.

“My other concerns are the negative impacts of students in larger class sizes and how drastically different a school day would be for Harman kids going to a much larger school,” Vance said.

Last month Dilly applied for a grant from the School Building Authority of West Virginia (SBA) that would build a new gymnasium and construct new classrooms at Tygarts Valley Middle School/High School. The project was added to the CEFP and was among the reasons it had to be amended.

“By expanding Tygarts Valley Middle/High School, the county gains the capacity to accommodate a larger student body, making it possible to adjust attendance zones and enhance resource allocation,” Dilly said.

“The addition to Tygarts Valley Middle/High School enables the school to accept more students from neighboring areas, which provides the county with the flexibility to close two nearby schools that may no longer be cost-effective or efficient to maintain. This consolidation allows the county to maximize the use of existing resources, such as faculty, facilities, and funding, while providing a high-quality learning environment for all students.”

Dilly said the CEFP was amendable and that the board and Randolph County wasn’t locked into anything by approving the amendment.

“The state of West Virginia requires us to have a plan and that’s what it is,” said Dilly.

BOE President Rachel Anger asked Dilly if a vote for Section B of the Consent Calendar, which is for the CEFP Application for Amendment, was a vote for closure or simply a vote to amend the application.

Dilly said, “Correct, it’s only for the Amendment.” The board then voted to approve the amendment.

During the Superintendents Reports Section of the meeting, Dilly said when the state makes recommendations about consolidations and closings, it looks at what is called Economies of Scale. Part of the Economics of Scale is Building Utilization and Dilly presented a powerpoint showing schools’ numbers throughout the county.

In 2020, Harman was at 42 percent in this category and is currently at 27 percent. Pickens was at 16 percent in 2020 and is now at 14 percent.

Per Pupil Expenditures are also part of the Economies of Scale, and in 2022-23, Pickens was at $22,387.49 per student and Harman at $16,214.65. By comparison, Tygarts Valley was at $13,102.29 and Elkins at $10,857.24.