CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state school board will appeal a controversial school consolidation issue to the state Supreme Court.
The West Virginia board of education, following an executive session, voted to reject a judge’s order to accept the Nicholas County school board’s decision to consolidate schools. There were no nays, although board member Jim Wilson abstained.
There was no discussion in public of the decision, just a vote. Board member Dave Perry made the motion.
The board issued a statement after the vote was made:
“From the beginning of evaluating Nicholas County’s proposed CEFP amendment, the WVBE has focused on the best interest of all students in the county. Our decision was based on what we thought was right and within our constitutional authority as members of the State Board of Education. As such, the WVBE has decided to appeal Judge Bloom’s ruling to the West Virginia Supreme Court.”
Watch the decision unfold below:
#WVgov school board announces decision on Nicholas school consolidation https://t.co/tEEBb40Akk
— Brad McElhinny (@BradMcElhinny) August 24, 2017
During a midday break, Board President Tom Campbell declined to discuss the board’s decision, citing pending litigation.
Board spokeswoman Kristin Anderson clarified that, technically, the board rejected the judge’s order but that the state Attorney General’s Office will file the appeal to the state Supreme Court.
“The other piece is just questioning our state board’s constitutional authority, so they’re seeking to defend that with this appeal to the Supreme Court,” Anderson said.
She said the board “collectively felt that they should appeal, so in that sense they feel confident that an appeal was necessary.”
Kanawha Circuit Judge Duke Bloom had issued his ruling last Friday afternoon in favor of the Nicholas County Board of Education in the contentious Richwood school consolidation case.
Bloom concluded the West Virginia Board of Education overstepped their authority in reversing the earlier decision by the local board. He ordered the state board to let the consolidation go forward.
The judge had to decide whether the state board’s decision was “arbitrary and capricious.”
MORE: Read Judge Bloom’s ruling in the Nicholas consolidation case.
The Nicholas County board prefers a plan to use disaster recovery money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to consolidate schools on a single campus.
The school system hopes to work under FEMA’s “428 program” that would allow consolidation of grant funds into one pot to be used for projects outside the scope of direct replacement.
Under that proposal, the county would combine five schools at one campus at Glade Creek Business Park in the Summersville area. The schools are Richwood High and Middle Schools, Summersville Middle, Nicholas County High School, and the county’s vocational school. The new facility is expected to cost $130 million.
The county has already received a six-month extension on a FEMA deadline, running out in December now, to work through differences with the state.
Anderson today said the state board is well aware that deadline is approaching.
“I think part of the reason the board brought this up today at their meeting is they are cognizant of timelines and realize that deadlines are looming — so wanted to talk about it today before the Supreme Court comes back in September,” Anderson said.
Twice, state school board members have already rejected the Nicholas County plan — expressing concern that local board members didn’t adequately listen to concerns from Richwood residents and that alternatives might exist.
In the earlier hearing before Bloom, state board members acknowledged that members of the Nicholas County board abided by the letter of state policy, which they often called by its number, 6204.
But the state board members said they didn’t believe the Nicholas board members listened intently enough to concerns or that they engaged with all county residents with enough zeal.
Bloom had concluded the state school board went beyond its own rules. Bloom wrote that the state board’s general supervision powers do not give it free reign.
“Based on the foregoing, the Court finds and concludes that in considering a CEFP amendment to close and/or consolidate local schools, the state Board does not have unfettered discretion to simply substitute its judgment for that of a local county school board of consider arbitrary criteria not contained in WVBE policies or regulations.
“Moreover, the Court finds it patently unfair to arbitrarily change closure/consolidation requirements after a local school board has expended considerable time, effort and resources to comply with promulgated State Board policies,” the judge wrote.
Bloom went on to say, “Such departure from WVBE policy and regulations is the textbook description of arbitrary conduct, as it results in disparate inconsistent treatment of similarly situated parties by setting different standards for similar situations.”