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HARMAN - A community nonprofit group has filed a lawsuit alleging that the Randolph County Board of Education illegally sold and closed the former Harman K-12 School, and seeks an injunction to re-open the school.
The lawsuit was filed on Thursday afternoon in Randolph County Circuit Court by Hometown Hope, which documents describe as a "domestic non-profit corporation." The suit states the group "is comprised of taxpayers and parents of students of Randolph County Public Schools," and lists a Harman address for the group.
The Randolph County Board of Education and current Superintendent of Schools Derek Lambert are listed as the defendants in the lawsuit. The suit’s filing lists Randolph County Division 2 Circuit Judge Jaymie G. Wilfong as the judge for the civil lawsuit.
The Randolph BOE voted in October 2025 to close the school for fiscal reasons, and the recommendation was approved by the state in December 2025. In June, the BOE decided to transfer ownership of the school building to the Harman Education Association, a community group which sought to open a micro or charter school in the building. That new school opened on Sept. 8, officials said.
The lawsuit alleges that the BOE sold the Harman School building and property for $10 "at private sale" to a "private entity." The suit claims this violates the process set forth in West Virginia Code 18-5-7, which requires that boards of education must only sell property at a public auction.
The suit asks for a court injunction to both "re-open the school and declare the private sale of the Harman School building and land void."
"The Plaintiffs acknowledge that because Harman School has been closed and the 2026-2027 school has begun, a TRO and preliminary injunction may not be the best solution to
this problem, given the effort that will need to be expended upon the re-opening of Harman
School," the lawsuit states. "Said another way, while the Plaintiffs may prefer it, an emergency injunction may not best serve the students because physically re-opening Harman School may take some time."
The lawsuit also challenges the steps taken by the Randolph BOE and then-Superintendent Shawn Dilly that have resulted in the amount of time former Harman students now spend on buses riding to attend other schools in the county.
"Harman students now attending school in Elkins must first go to a central bus stop location, the State Highway Shed, by 5:57 a.m. and ride a one-way bus for one hour and twenty-three minutes (1:23) on a clear day," according to the lawsuit. "During inclement weather days, the students could be on the bus in excess of two hours each way.
"The State Board of Education approved a waiver request from the Randolph County Board of Education to approve the maximum bus ride for Harman students from 30 minutes to 60 minutes. The waver did not approve one-way bus rides of over an hour, such as now is present for Harman students, because it cannot.
"A county board may not create, and the state board may not permit, any new bus route for PreK-Grade 5 students that exceeds the recommended 30-minute elementary ride time by more than 30 minutes (i.e., a route longer than 60 minutes one-way)… This is an absolute cap with no waiver mechanism available.
"Further, requiring elementary students to be at a centralized bus stop not near their home necessarily requires those students to get out of bed in the 4:00 hour," the suit reads.
The plaintiffs ask that a hearing on an injunction be set as soon as possible for the court.
Hometown Hope is being represented by attorneys Teresa C. Toriseva and Joshua D. Miller of Wheeling.