ELKINS — Coalton Elementary School would have to close as part of Dr. Shawn Dilly’s proposed consolidation plan, the superintendent said during Tuesday evening’s Randolph County Board of Education meeting, to the apparent surprise of BOE members.

During a scheduled work session dedicated to the consolidation proposal during Tuesday’s meeting, Dilly said many in the community are still not clear of what his plan calls for when it comes to the closing of county schools.

“I think there are some folks out there still not quite clear on the plan, even though I feel like we’ve been pretty clear from the beginning about the plan going forward,” he said. “The questions that surrounded us were the financial implications, and would we have to be adding additional schools to that particular realm. And that is a challenge and financial reality that we’re up against.”

Dilly revealed to the BOE that, under his plan, Coalton Elementary will have to close its doors in order for the proposal to work.

“Coalton Elementary, we would have to be looking at it because of the financial realities that are out there,” Dilly said. “I know some folks are concerned, but we have very few options available to us as far as making these financial demands achievable.”

BOE President Rachel Burns noted that, “Coalton wasn’t discussed until just this very moment.”

Dilly responded by saying, “We’ve talked about it from the beginning and basically what I had said is, with Coalton, we were hoping to be able to wait for one year, but if we weren’t able to meet the financial goals, then we would have to look at it. And that is what I’m sharing with you this evening, is that we were not able to meet our financial goals to balance the budget for the following year. So therefore we would need to include Coalton Elementary in this discussion at this point.”

BOE member Sherri Collett asked, “Will Coalton even fit intoThird Ward?”

Dilly replied, “Yes it will. I have sat down and done all the calculations and class size comparisons. I’ve also sat down with the principals and we have looked into all of that and they will fit into the building.

“I know there are folks out there saying otherwise and there are folks who have called the fire marshal and other things. The only thing we may have to look at is the relocation of some office space for things like Title I, Speech, and some of those elements. But we do have a plan to cover all of those aspects related to that. We are also looking at the possibility of one Pre-K classroom being moved over to Jennings to create additional space, if necessary.”

Dilly also talked about other elements of the proposal, including the closing of North Elementary.

“Just to kind of clarify, this plan includes, obviously, moving the fifth grade into Elkins Middle School from the surrounding area schools to create the additional room necessary at the local elementary schools,” Dilly said. “One of the first schools we would be looking at closing would be North Elementary.

“North would be moving into Jennings Randolph, and one of the things we’re fairly pleased with this particular aspect is that we are able to incorporate all of the Pre-K to fourth-grade North Elementary students into Jennings Randolph. So the transportation and a lot of the elements that surround operations are going to be smoother and easier.”

Dilly told the BOE that Midland Elementary’s Pre-K to fourth-grade students would be moving to Beverly Elementary, and discussed the plans for Harman and Pickens.

“Obviously, when we are looking at Harman, we’d be looking at the K to 4th grade students moving to Jennings Randolph and then the middle and high school students going out to Elkins Middle School and Elkins High School with this plan,” Dilly said.

“Then the other aspect would be Pickens Elementary looking at George Ward and Tygarts Valley, but obviously we could also consider the Upshur County option as an opportunity, as well as a virtual option for both the Harman and Pickens areas, as we’ve shared before.”

Board member Phil Chua said a plan needs to be formulated for when bad weather affects travel for rural students.

“We need to have a robust plan in place for the weather,” Chua said. “We need to be able to allow parents to not send their kids to school if there is a threat of weather.”

BOE member Ed Daniels told Dilly he doesn’t believe there will be many issues with busing students across the mountains, saying that most will probably seek other alternatives.

“I really don’t think you are going to have an issue with busing because I think those school kids will stay at home and get home-schooled,” Daniels said. “I don’t think their parents are going to allow them to take those routes. We really need to think more on this.”

Dilly said, “I don’t disagree. I’d love to have a solution, but I don’t know a viable solution that allows us to keep those schools open financially. Not when we are facing a $4 million deficit plus an additional million in the future year, plus more.”

Dilly added that Randolph County’s funding formula in the future is going to have to look more like schools in Tucker, Pocahontas and Pendleton counties, to which Daniels responded, “I think Pocahontas County lost half of their student body whenever they consolidated. And that’s a lot of money we are going to lose here if we do the same.”

Dilly said, “I understand that, but then how do you get money to keep these schools open? That’s the challenge we are up against.”

The next regular Board of Education meeting will be Sept. 16 at 5:30 p.m.