HARMAN — Community members in Harman will host a meeting Friday to go over plans which could allow students to continue to attend school in their hometown.

The meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Harman Covenant Brethren Church, will feature representatives from the HOPE Scholarship, who will provide program information for those in attendance.

“We will have a couple different organizations on hand to give information to the community,” Trish Bucher, one of the meeting’s organizers, told The Inter-Mountain.

“We will have a representative from the HOPE Scholarship and a representative from the WVHES (West Virginia Home Educators Association).

“We wanted to have a meeting where people could get access to resources and obtain information. And we also want to give the community information about us trying to establish a school.”

After the Randolph County Board of Education voted in October to close the Harman K-12 School, community members have been working hard to give students another alternative next school year.

Since October, the Harman Education Association has been created, and organizers hope that once it becomes an established entity, the association will then be able to gain control of the Harman School building.

“We are working on getting ourselves established as a non-profit organization,” Bucher said. “It takes around three to six months to get it taken care of on the federal side of things, so there is that hold up. But as far as being able to operate, the state’s process is only just a couple of weeks, so we should be an established entity in the state within a couple of weeks.

“On the federal side of things we just have to wait to get our official 501(c)(3) status. The main reason for us to establish this non-profit is so we can receive the building from the county, which they have promised to give to the community.”

A 501(c)(3) is a specific type of nonprofit that has been recognized by the Internal Revenue Service. These organizations are formed exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, literary, educational or other public safety purposes.

Bucher said that if the Harman Education Association gains control of the building, hopes are that a microschool can be established at that location.

“Because the charter school application timeline has passed, we are looking to put a microschool into that building,” Bucher said. “With a microschool we will have a board that will manage it, and its regulations can be made as we feel is the best fit.”

Bucher said a microschool could include up to 150 students, and that the tuition fee can be paid through the Hope Scholarship.

The Harman K-12 School began the 2025-26 school year with 103 students enrolled.

“We are trying to establish a microschool where all of the students’ tuition will be paid for by the Hope Scholarship allocation,” Bucher said. “We really hope that we can get it all to come together.

“We understand that the Board of Education had to make their financial decisions, but it’s within the children’s best interest that they have a school to go to in Harman. We can do better for our kids and that’s what we are going to try and do.”

Microschools blend homeschooling flexibility with structured, in-person instruction. They offer a tailored alternative to traditional schools and are ideal for flexible, learner-driven education. 

For additional information about Friday’s community meeting, call 304-940-5576.