CHARLESTON — Even though the Randolph County Board of Education voted to close the Harman K-12 School in October, residents of the small community continue to fight for their school’s existence.

For this week’s West Virginia Board of Education meeting in Charleston, a pair of Harman residents, Phil Perrine and Dan Bucher, traveled to Charleston to speak during the meeting.

Perrine told the BOE that he wanted to address two points that he felt were “extremely concerning and detrimental to the future of education in West Virginia.”

Perrine’s first point had to do with the increase in closing public schools. He also questioned the accuracy of information that was submitted to the state prior to the decision to close Harman School.

“Consolidation has become a prevailing approach in educational administration,” Perrine said. “While this strategy appears primarily focused on budget compliance, it now raises concerns regarding the impact on the quality and effectiveness of the educational services provided.

“As changes continue within the public education system, we respectfully request that an accountable process be established to ensure all information presented and endorsed by the West Virginia State Board of Education is thoroughly vetted and verified for both accuracy and factual integrity prior to being considered.”

Perrine then directed a question to the West Virginia Department of Education’s school facilities director, Micah Whitlow, and State BOE Superintendent Michele Blatt.

“We have observed your verification of information submitted to the State Board following established procedures and presuming its accuracy,” Perrine said. “Could you please clarify at which stage and to what extent this information is reviewed and validated by you prior to your approval?”

After the Randolph County Board of Education voted 4-1 to close the Harman School in October, documents – including Randolph County Schools’ Comprehensive Educational Facilities Plan (CEFP) and a bus waiver – had to be approved by the State BOE.

In December, the West Virginia Board of Education approved the county’s submissions and voted unanimously to close Harman.

“The funding formula has been frequently cited as a primary concern contributing to challenges in education quality, alongside burdensome and outdated regulations,” he said. “It is important to recognize that factors beyond financial resources may also play a significant role in addressing these issues.

“At what point should we reconsider allocating substantial taxpayer funds to a system that has demonstrated limited effectiveness. Over an extended period, has this side of the house undertaken a comprehensive evaluation of its own processes and performance standards? At present, there appears to be no evidence of such an initiative.”

Perrine noted he was staying in Charleston for several days to meet with state officials. He told the State BOE that he was available to meet with any of them for discussions if they were willing.

Bucher told the State BOE that people in Harman believe the closing of the school is not a “done deal.”

“I am here on behalf of Harman School and you may suggest its closure is a done deal,” Bucher said. “We have reason to believe otherwise and we will continue to make our case for Harman School, though it may not always be in this forum.

“At the December 2025 Board meeting, you were presented with information by Micah Whitlow and Michele Blatt on which to base your decision to close Harman School. We urged you to examine and verify the information. You elected to ignore us and the statements we provided, which contradicted the information presented by your staff.”

Bucher said the submissions presented to the State Board from Randolph County Schools contain inaccuracies.

“You have been advised that the Impact Statement prepared by the Randolph County School Administration contained inaccuracies and critical omissions,” Bucher said. “We outlined those issues, which were initially acknowledged by the Randolph County Board of Education. However, after a period of verified intimidation and coercion by representatives of the State Department of Education, the Randolph County Board reversed its decision and voted to close Harman School.”

Bucher mentioned one omission in the Impact Statement.

“Numerous children, who we have identified, were not included on the bus routes in the Harman community in order to lower the travel times,” Bucher said. “We seek accountability at both the local and state level and we will work tenaciously to expose the truth.

“Faulty or omitted information doesn’t relieve you of the responsibility of making a bad decision. The appeal process, which we have initiated, is a first step in providing opportunities for the community to directly challenge local and state board officials with the facts.”

Prior to its vote to close Harman in October, the Randolph County Board of Education had voted 4-1 to keep the school open in January 2025.