Chua

ELKINS — Randolph County Board of Education member Dr. Phil Chua said at Tuesday night’s BOE meeting that he feels the state is “threatening” board members to make certain decisions when it comes to school closures and consolidation.

The BOE has set three hearing dates in October for the proposed closure of two K-12 schools and three elementary schools. During Tuesday’s meeting, Chua said he and the other board members, President Rachel Burns, Ed Daniels, Sherri Collett and Janie Newlon, will face repercussions if they don’t vote the way the state wants.

“They just had a WVSBA (West Virginia School Board Authority) meeting and I felt at times they were talking directly to us, and that included their lawyers,” Chua said. “And they made it very clear that if we do not vote to try and balance our budget, that we would be charged with a misdemeanor. They made that very clear that was going to happen. These are the people who are supposed to be representing us at the state level – very threatening.”

In June, Randolph County Schools was placed in a State of Emergency by the West Virginia Department of Education. The school district will remain on probation for a total of six months, and faces the possibility of a state takeover if it cannot create a balanced budget or show progress by December.

The Randolph BOE voted against a school closing earlier this year. In January, the BOE voted 4-1 against closing Harman K-12 School. One day later, the proposal to close the Pickens K-12 School was formally withdrawn.

Chua said that during last week’s state SBA meeting, he and the other Randolph BOE members were made aware of three separate sections of West Virginia State Code, including Code 11-8-31, which states that a person who in his/her official capacity willfully violates the provisions of state code regarding fiscal responsibility shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, shall be fined not more than $500, or confined in jail not more than one year, or both; and shall also forfeit office.

Newlon and Collett attended the SBA meeting in person, while the others watched the live remote feed. Other than possible prosecution, Chua said it’s possible that the Board members could face other repercussions as well.

“A lot of people don’t know that if we come up with a budget shortfall that is over $100,000, they can actually come after our personal assets,” Chua said. “So be aware when we are voting for these things, it’s not that we are trying to close somebody’s school because we don’t like Pickens, or we don’t like Harman, or we are not worried about kids going over the mountains. We are worried about all that stuff, but the fact is that they have the cards stacked against the public school system in this state.

“They have the cards stacked against your rural schools and they have the cards stacked against us in a way that we are not able to do what you want us to do.”

Chua said pressure from the state makes it impossible for the BOE members to do what they feel is necessary.

“We are not able to say no and just do whatever we want,” Chua said. “They will come up to us and say ‘clink’ {here Chua mimed having handcuffs put on} and they made it very clear that was the plan, very clear… There is no question what the overarching goal was, which was to threaten us.”

Burns said what she took from the SBA meeting was that the only thing the state was concerned with was balancing the budget.

“They said that’s your budget, and your job is to meet your budget,” Burns said. “Honestly, they really don’t care. I mean frankly, they said they don’t care about your community.”

Chua responded to Burns by saying, “They almost specifically talked about our rural schools, specifically.”

Chua noted that, as a doctor, he does not wish to be charged with a misdemeanor.

“I can’t get a misdemeanor, I won’t have a medical license,” he said. “So it’s not going to happen, you know. So that’s a fact. And they know they have us in a corner and you can sit there and bang your head on the wall about it, but what are you going to do? You have people come in here all the time and tell us how to do our job and it’s not as easy as you would think. These decisions are already in play.”

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Shawn Dilly said both he and the BOE are in a situation they don’t want to be in.

“I mean, we’re all facing a situation that none of us want to face,” Dilly said. “Unfortunately, you have a responsibility, just as I do. I mean, there are repercussions if I don’t bring something forward, so I just don’t think people understand that all of us, all six of us sitting up here, have repercussions to the challenges that we are faced with. And as much as we want to be supportive of our communities’ goals, we have very limited tools with the mandate of balancing the budget.”

The next regular BOE meeting is scheduled for Oct. 7 at 5:30 p.m.

The first of three public hearing dates for proposed school closures and consolidation will be on Oct. 8 at the Elkins High School theatre. That hearing is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. and will focus on the proposed closing of Harman K-12 School and North Elementary School.