CHARLESTON — Two Barbour County parents spoke against the closure of Junior Elementary School before the West Virginia State Board of Education approved the closure and consolidation plan for several schools in Barbour County this week.

During the State Board’s meeting Wednesday morning, more than 25 people came forward as delegations to speak against the closures of schools in six counties, as well as discuss the state’s school vaccination requirements and other topics. Speaking on behalf of Junior Elementary School was Bobbie Glendening and Mariah Hamrick, both Barbour County residents and parents of students at Junior Elementary.

During her allotted time, Glendening said she was “tired of watching decisions be made against the best interests” of the children.

“Let’s be very clear, what happened right now violates the spirit of the law,” Glendening said. “The law was written to protect students. To ensure reasonable bus times, to guarantee access to local brick and mortar schools and to make sure families have real choices, but the extra time our kids spend on buses, the time being conveniently ignored is very real.”

Glendening said that pretending the educational and social time that students lose on long bus rides doesn’t matter was both “wrong” and “irresponsible.”

Glendening also stated that local schools give the public the choice to keep kids closer to home, to keep families connected and to keep a community alive. She remarked that choice was being taken away from families in Junior.

“Not because of what’s best for our students, it’s because someone decides to twist the law to fit a decision that was already made,” Glendening said. “When the leaders ignore the spirit of the law, they ignore the people the law was meant to protect, and let’s say it plainly, closing a local school takes away more than classrooms. It takes away safety. It takes away stability. It takes away our children’s rights to a fair education. It takes away our heart and community.”

Glendening added that the public would not accept decisions that “treat our children like numbers” and that they would not stay silent while their voices were getting “pushed aside,” nor would they allow their community’s “only brick and mortar school to be erased.”

Hamrick spoke immediately after Glendening, explaining what Junior Elementary School has done for her and her children over the years.

“I detest public speaking, yet hold a deep-rooted confidence to accomplish and write passionately because I was given an opportunity,” Hamrick said. “The constructive criticism from my fourth-grade teacher at Junior Elementary woke a sleeping beauty in my soul that inspired passion for creativity, leading me to college for creative writing where my heart met my mind in a collision of exploding fires, each fire representing new knowledge about writing I could never have learned without that constructive criticism.”

Hamrick explained that her work being published in a “nationally recognized magazine,” would never have happened without her fourth-grade teacher at Junior Elementary telling her she “could achieve better.”

Hamrick also told the State Board that she held a “great confidence” in the type of education that her children have received from Junior Elementary School, and in how that education will prepare them for the world.

“I will lose that confidence in the tumultuous storm of consolidation that will leave my children lost on their own island with no one who can reach them individually,” Hamrick said. “Teachers and principles have worked with me and my oldest child diligently across multiple diagnoses, forming a plan to meet his needs… That. That is what Junior Elementary offers.”

Hamrick called on the State Board to remember their potential in making the decision on whether or not to close Junior Elementary School.

“Do you allow current and future students to discover their potential, or will you let our school become part of the lowest education statistics in the nation by placing monetary over mindfulness?” Hamrick asked.

After the speakers Wednesday morning, the State Board members approved in a 8-1 vote the consolidation plan, which would see the closure of Belington Middle School, Kasson Middle School and Philippi Middle School, all three of which will be consolidated into Philip Barbour High School, making it a grades 6-12 school.

Though the plan sees the closure of Kasson Middle School, the Kasson Elementary/Middle School building will still be occupied by the elementary grades.

The plan also calls for the closure of Junior Elementary School, which would be consolidated into Belington Elementary School. Belington Elementary will later be moved into the “newly renovated” Belington Middle School building.

In October, the Barbour BOE and Barbour County Superintendent Eddie Vincent released a statement, explaining how the closure of Junior Elementary School, its subsequent consolidation into Belington Elementary School and the move into the renovated Belington Middle School building will work.

“As part of that plan, all students would then attend Belington Elementary School in the newly renovated Belington Middle School building,” the October release states. “There is a distinct possibility that the renovations planned for the Belington Middle School building will not be completed by the start of the 2026-2027 school year. Therefore, the transition to the building will not take place until the start of the 2027-2028 school year.

“Since the building will not be fully ready for students by the start of the 2026-2027 school year, current fourth-graders at Junior Elementary will attend fifth grade at the Belington Elementary School campus for the 2026-2027 school year, ensuring a seamless and stable experience for students as they matriculate to middle school the year after.”

The closure and consolidation proposal was brought before the State Board after the Barbour County BOE initially approved the consolidation plan in a 5-0 vote on Nov. 10.