Submitted photo School officials attended a training session for weapon detectors which have been donated through funding raised by Timmy and Angie Lewis. The first location where a detector has been set up is Tygarts Valley Middle/High School. From left are Steve Wamsley, TVMHS principal; Sarah Wamsley, Elkins High School assistant principal; Brian Currence, EHS assistant principal; PRO officer Rocky Hebb; Nick Alfred, Director of Facilities for the Randolph County Board of Education; PRO officer Ethan Carr; Carla Lambert, EHS principal; PRO officer Danny Pennington; and Melissa Wilfong, TVMHS assistant principal.

ELKINS — The Tygarts Valley High School principal explained to the Randolph County Board of Education this week how his school’s move to period scheduling in the next school year will be handled.

In order to balance the county school system’s budget for the fiscal year 2025-26, Superintendent Dr. Shawn Dilly has said a change from block scheduling to a period base schedule at county schools will save the money. RIF (reduction in force) hearings will begin Monday.

“At the request of Dr. Dilly, he would like us to produce a schedule with eight periods and 375 instructional minutes, so what we’ve done at Tygarts Valley, is we have eight 47-minute classes. That comes out to 376 instructional minutes,” TVHS Principal Steve Wamsley said during this week’s BOE meeting. “Right now my schedule is complete.”

Wamsley said a total of 21 teachers at TVHS will teach 400 kids at seven different grade levels next year. 

“When Dr. Dilly asked us to switch, he came to us and gave us a number,” Wamsley said. “And it wasn’t a number that we couldn’t live with. But this is going to be very hard on us. There are multiple people in instances and curriculum areas that we are going to lose out on and that really hurts.”

Wamsley, who is in his 43rd year as an educator, said he sees the move as nothing more than a budget issue.

“I’ve been through this a time or two and you deal with the hand you are dealt,” he said. “A lot of people have complained about the way you guys (the BOE) have handled things and the way the superintendent has handled things. I’d like to know how many of them that are complaining voted against levies as we were coming through.

“Whenever someone comes to me, I ask them and if they say no, they don’t have anything to say as far as I’m concerned. Because that’s what has put us where we are right now. We have a great county and a great bunch of kids… We are very lucky that we have great kids.”

Wamsley said Tygarts Valley will try to add some virtual classes at the school to help meet some of the requirement needs.

“I hate virtual school, I hate homeschooling,” Wamsley said. “I think kids need to be around each other, get their knees skinned up, get their hearts broken, go through life and learn how to be an adult. I think that’s as important as the education part of it is. So I’m not a big virtual person, but if we have to do it, we will.”

Wamsley said some of the cuts proposed for Tygarts Valley Middle/High are unprecedented.

“There are cuts I thought I would never see at Tygarts Valley,” Wamsley said. “That hurts our community and it hurts our kids. I see some really good teachers that are going to walk away and it’s unfortunate. But that’s where we are at, that’s the hand we’ve been dealt.”

Wamsley said Tygarts Valley will offer rotating courses under the period-based schedule.

“We rotate courses – we will have physics one year and won’t have it the next year,” he said. “We will try to keep dual credit classes. We have enough dual credit classes where you can graduate from Tygarts Valley and bypass your freshman year (of college).”

Dilly said he wanted to “dispel some of the misinformation that’s floating out there surrounding class sizes.”

“I think there are people out there believing that every single class at Elkins High School is going to be 40 kids, and that’s not true,” Dilly said. “So I think it’s important to dispel that myth that’s out there. Is there potentially a class that might be 31 or 32? Yes, it could be. But typically, if it’s done like it’s been done everywhere I’ve been, they go and ask that teacher if it’s OK to have those extra kids in your room. But the ideal situation for us, and using the economies of scale, is about 25 per class.”

The Randolph County Board of Education will hold RIF personnel hearings Monday through Thursday of next week. The hearings will be at the BOE Office and will begin at 5 p.m. each evening.