I was extremely appalled reading the article in The Inter-Mountain concerning the bus run intended to simulate what K-12 students would experience if the Pickens School closes.

The Pickens Local School Improvement Council planned and funded this return trip from Mill Creek, ending in Pickens, Helvetia and Czar, about a two-hour bus ride in good weather conditions.

What angered me was the fact that Superintendent of Schools Dr. Shawn Dilly and only one Board of Education member, Ed Daniels, took advantage of this trip. Every Board member should have taken this trip to experience what every student on that bus would experience. These students get off the bus late in the afternoon, and will board the bus around 5:30 a.m. the next morning.

I researched to find out the responsibilities of the Board of Education. There are three main responsibilities:

1. Hire and evaluate a superintendent

2. Develop the annual budget

3. Set school priorities

The Board can also plan student services, adopt curriculum, edit textbooks and learning materials. The Board can set priorities for students to achieve state-mandated goals and ways to improve student achievement scores. They may also approve plans for improving facilities. The Board is recognized as a policy making body.

Where does it state that these same Board members represent students, listen to all sides of student issues, figure out what is best for the student, address student safety and health issues, and establish a relationship with parents and the community?

We have two Board members who are in the medical field and should know the effects of lack of sleep, particularly in young children. Sleep is a building block for mental and physical health.

Lack of sleep impacts alertness and attention, cognitive performance, moods, vocabulary acquisition, learning and memory. In other words, the ability to pay attention.

This can cause students to fall behind, causing anxiety, depression and the ability to not communicate with other students.

Health issues can arise from lack of sleep in children, of all ages. Cardiovascular risks in the form of obesity, diabetes, ADHD, high blood pressure, injuries and poor academic performance are a few.

In this case, lack of sleep can be attributed to the early bus runs.

I hope the Board will put the health, safety and optimum learning abilities ahead of dollars, for our children attending Pickens K-12 School.

All the Randolph County BOE members, except Ed Daniels, should get a boo from The Inter-Mountain.

Camille Phares

Elkins