Today marks the beginning of a sad process for the Randolph County Schools system, as the county Board of Education will vote this month on whether to close two K-12 schools and three elementary schools.

A public hearing on the closing of Harman K-12 School and North Elementary School is scheduled for today at the Elkins High School theatre, beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Those wishing to speak during the hearing must sign in between 5 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. The Randolph County Board of Education will cast a final vote on closing the two schools at 8:30 p.m. tonight.

If the proposal is approved, students from the two closed schools would be merged into Jennings Randolph Elementary School, Elkins Middle School and Elkins High School.

Two more public hearings are set this month, for the closing of Pickens K-12 school on Oct. 14, and the closings of Coalton Elementary and Midland Elementary on Oct. 28.

The hands of BOE members and Superintendent Dr. Shawn Dilly are being forced to act on this matter, as Randolph County Schools was placed in a State of Emergency by the West Virginia Department of Education in June. The school district will remain on probation for a total of six months, and faces the possibility of a state takeover if it cannot create a balanced budget or show progress by December.

It is a sad state of affairs, and similar to what other counties are facing, as well.

The Barbour County Board of Education also recently set October hearing dates for the closure of several schools: Belington Middle School, Kasson Middle School, Philippi Middle School and Junior Elementary School.

The Barbour BOE listed the reasons for the proposed closures as being the school system suffering major losses in student population, and the high cost of keeping all the schools open — much the same as the reasons for the Randolph proposals.

There are some big differences between the ways the two counties are handling the hearings and vote processes, however.

First, the Barbour BOE has set a hearing for each school proposed to close, and each hearing will take place at the school in question, within the community that will be affected.

In Randolph County, tonight’s hearing will be for both the Harman and North schools in one night, and the Coalton and Midland schools will be considered in a single hearing on Oct. 28,

All of the three hearings are set to take place at the Elkins High School theatre. None of the Randolph hearings will take place at the schools slated for closure, or within those affected communities.

Also, in Barbour County, the hearings will take place at the schools between Oct. 28-30. The Barbour BOE will then vote on the entire closures and consolidations plan on Nov. 10, nearly two weeks later.

In Randolph County, the BOE will vote on whether to close Harman and North tonight, at the close of the hearing.

The BOE will also vote on the other school closures immediately at the end of the other two hearings.

As The Inter-Mountain has pointed out before, the communities’ concerns about these school closings should be heard and taken seriously. To have the BOE members vote immediately after the last community member speaks at the hearing does not show that officials are taking residents’ concerns seriously.

Another major difference in the ways the two counties are approaching school closures and consolidations is that in Barbour County, although middle school students at Kasson Middle/Elementary are slated to be consolidated into another school, Kasson Elementary will remain open.

“While the utilization rate will be low at this facility, it serves our most rural section of the county and would require transportation times that are not reasonable,” the Barbour BOE impact statement reads. “Eliminating this facility would disproportionately impact families in these outlying areas, many of whom would face daily bus rides exceeding one hour if reassigned to other schools. Such extended travel times raise concerns not only about student well-being and academic readiness, but also about equity in access to education.

“Moreover, Kasson Elementary functions as more than just a school — it is a vital community anchor in a region where public institutions are few and far between,” according to the statement. “Its presence supports local identity, fosters community engagement, and provides a sense of continuity for families who have relied on it for generations.”

Was such a proposal — consolidating the middle and high school students from Harman and Pickens but leaving the facilities to serve as elementary schools — ever considered in Randolph? The extended bus travel time that consolidation would mean for the young students from Harman and Pickens has been a major point of contention in Randolph County the past year.

We again ask that Dilly and the BOE continue to show more consideration, and compassion, for the real people who will be most affected by this massive closure plan.