Photo courtesy of Steve Chamberlain Randolph County Board of Education members, from left, Ed Daniels, Janie Newlon and Rachel Burns, listen on Tuesday night during a lengthy public hearing at the Elkins High School Theatre. The BOE voted against Superintendent Dr. Shawn Dilly's proposals to close and consolidate both the Coalton Elementary and Midland Elementary schools.

ELKINS – The Randolph County Board of Education voted against Superintendent Dr. Shawn Dilly’s recommendations to close and consolidate two schools during a nearly four-hour public hearing Tuesday night.

Both Coalton Elementary and Midland Elementary will remain open after votes from the BOE swung in both schools’ favor. The Board voted 3-2 against the closing of Midland and 4-1 against the closing of Coalton.

BOE President Rachel Burns and fellow members Ed Daniels and Sherri Collett voted against closing Midland. Dr. Phil Chua and Janie Newlon voted for Dilly’s recommendation. Chua was the lone BOE member who voted for the closure and consolidation of Coalton.

The crowd in attendance at the Elkins High School Theatre erupted in applause after the votes, which were taken just after 9 p.m.

The BOE voted Oct. 8 to close Harman K-12 School and North Elementary School. Beginning next year, students from those schools will be sent to Jennings Randolph Elementary School, Elkins Middle School and Elkins High School.

On Oct. 14, a public hearing and vote on the closure of Pickens K-12 School was canceled approximately 90 minutes before it was slated to take place. The Superintendent  announced on social media that the hearing had been canceled following “new information related to funding, as well as ongoing community effort that may support keeping Pickens open for an additional year.”

Students from Coalton Elementary and Midland Elementary would have been transferred to Third Ward Elementary and Beverly Elementary.

A large crowd gathered at EHS Tuesday night to speak out against the proposal.

After the fourth and final public delegation session of the evening, where members of the community were allowed three minutes each to speak, the BOE and Dilly decided to move on to the voting process.

“Does the Board want to take a few minutes or go right into the vote?” Burns asked. “It’s up to you guys, whatever you would like to do.”

After the BOE members agreed to proceed, Burns said, “I would like to remind everyone, I know we have a lot of people in here, and there is a lot of nervousness and excitement. If we could try to, until everything is voted on and complete, to try and keep the interruptions to a minimum. Because we do have a couple things to vote on. We want to be clear and respectful and make sure our minutes get recorded well.”

Section 6 of the meeting’s agenda included the votes for the two schools, along with a vote to approve a Waiver Request and an Amendment of the Comprehensive Education Facilities Plan. 

Anger asked Dilly about the two end items and he said neither would have to be voted on if his recommendation wasn’t approved. The BOE then voted on the fate of both schools, and cheers rang out after supporters learned that their respective schools would remain open.

A longer article about the votes, including more photos, will be published in Thursday’s edition of The Inter-Mountain.