CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Board of Education was scheduled to meet Tuesday to discuss county school systems without in-person instruction, but that meeting has been canceled.
Board President Miller Hall canceled the meeting after education leaders in Marion, Taylor and Gilmer counties agreed to have some face-to-face lessons.
Each school system planned to resume remote instruction for all students because of concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic, but state school leaders pressured possible actions against the local schools unless schedules changed.
“I am very pleased we have turned a corner in our state,” Hall said Monday. “We know more about this virus than we did when schools moved to remote learning in March 2020, and when we are diligent to follow the key mitigations such as mask-wearing, we know our children are safe in our schools.”
Two leading education unions — the West Virginia Education Association and the state chapter of the American Federation of Teachers — are suing to slow to return to the classroom as educators and staff continue receiving coronavirus vaccine doses.
Kanawha Circuit Judge Carrie Webster will take up the lawsuit on Tuesday.