(This is from WSAZ TV yesterday morning. )
Wayne County WV Schools are considering Consolidation possibly or even Closing.
Parents, teachers and community members spoke to the Wayne County school board on Tuesday night about the possibility of consolidating Dunlow and Genoa elementary schools.
“I mean, who’s gonna be the one that says, ‘oh yeah, you know our kids aren’t learning as much because we decided to not fund these smaller schools because these children were not important,” Terrina Blankenship, a bus driver from Wayne County, said.
Superintendent Todd Alexander said they are considering combining the two schools into an existing facility, or closing both, sending students to other elementaries. He said the decreasing population in the county creates a need to make budget cuts somewhere.
“We’ve lost over 1,300 students since 2017 and to put that in perspective, that’s that’s the size of two of our high schools,” Alexander said.
Alexander said they are still in the planning stages and closing both schools or consolidating are options they’re considering.
“Our board is dedicated to community schools. They want to keep the smaller schools if possible, but each year we have to look to see, is it going to get to the point here it’s just not possible because of the district’s overall enrollment.”
Brian Ferguson grew up in Dunlow. Even though he doesn’t have kids, he credits small schools for his success.
“These are the communities that are most neglected in our entire area,” Ferguson said.
Superintendent Alexander said if a recommendation to close or consolidate is made, the public would know in early December. Additionally, he said public hearings would need to be held if he or another board member makes a recommendation.
If they decided to consolidate the schools, the district would save about $800,000 per year. If they decided to close the facilities, he said it would be almost double.
Courtesy of WSAZ News
