COALTON — Dozens of residents have gathered twice at the Coalton Volunteer Fire Department for “Save Our School” meetings.

In the meetings, the residents prepared for the Randolph County Board of Education’s public hearing Tuesday, at the close of which the BOE will vote on whether to close Coalton Elementary School and Midland Elementary as well. The meeting will take place in the Elkins High School theater and is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

On Oct. 17, close to 100 residents attended the first S.O.S meeting. Longtime local businessman and former state legislator Mike Ross, who has made Coalton his home for the past 87 years, said around 75 citizens came out for the most recent meeting, on Oct. 23.

“We had another good turnout and a pretty good discussion,” Ross, who organized both meetings, told The Inter-Mountain. “We had around 75 people come out and we are all getting ready to head to Elkins on Tuesday evening for the meeting.”

Ross said it was determined during the meeting that a “caravan” of residents will depart from Coalton and make their way to Elkins on Tuesday.

“We are going to have a good caravan of folks, and the Coalton Fire Department is going to be leading the way with a firetruck,” Ross said. “I’d think we will have around 50 vehicles, but we may end up having more. Closing Coalton Elementary will affect a lot of families down this way, so we have a lot of people who want to discuss this situation at the meeting.”

Ross said he is very proud of the way citizens from Coalton have come out and had very informative things to say at the meetings.

“We have gathered a lot of information and shared it with one another,” Ross said. “And the groups we have had are not a rowdy bunch, they are just looking to help solve a problem. We had some new people come out this week and it was a good discussion.

“I think us showing up at this week’s meeting may help our cause,” Ross said. “We are going to be bringing some of the kids along so they can actually see who is going to be paying the price if they close our school. Those five people (BOE members) have a direct effect on the future of the kids and a lot of the parents here.”

On Oct. 8, the BOE voted 4-1 to close Harman K-12 School and 5-0 to close North Elementary School.

On Oct. 14, Randolph County School’s Superintendent Dr. Shawn Dilly canceled a public hearing and BOE vote on closing the Pickens K-12 School, less than two hours before the meeting’s scheduled start time.

Dilly proposed closure and consolidation for multiple schools after the Randolph County school system was placed in a State of Emergency by the West Virginia Department of Education in June.