MARLINTON, W.Va. — Some students at Pocahontas County High School were back in class Wednesday after staging a two-day walk-out over possible budget cuts to teacher positions.
A group of students held signs and stood outside the school in protest of the academic cuts Monday and Tuesday resulting in an undisclosed amount of students being suspended both in and out of school.
MetroNews has reached out to Pocahontas County Schools Superintendent Lynne Roth Bostic about the number of students who were suspended and the nature of those disciplinary actions but did not receive an immediate response.
The suspensions were first reported by the Stephen Baldwin of The Real WV.
The Pocahontas County Board of Education met Tuesday afternoon but did not take any action on personnel items.
BOE member Sam Gibson told MetroNews on Wednesday the school district is considering RIFs or Reductions In Force due to the lack of COVID relief funding.
“Our school system is funded entirely by the state and federal funding sources. We have no excess levy. We have no alternative funding source, so there’s some hard decisions that need to be made,” he said.
Gibson said while he supports the students’ decision to leave class this week, he believes it should’ve only been a one-day walk-out.
“They had their say and then they were asked to come back to school,” he said. “I feel school is much like a job and if you’re asked to do something, you need to conform and get back to work.”
When it comes to the potential budget cuts, Gibson said there are other ways to go about trimming costs and that cutting teacher positions is not the right answer.
“We have a national teacher shortage here and the state of West Virginia has an incredible amount of unfilled teaching positions. I really feel like we’re looking at the wrong target to cut,” he said.
During the walk-out, the Pocahontas County High School administration kept a close eye on the process to ensure student safety. School lunches were provided, and administrators allowed students to access to school bathrooms.
Gibson said the district is facing a tight deadline to make a decision on budget cuts moving forward.
“Any kind of Reduction In Force, those notices have to be handed out by April 1, so as far as personnel, that has to be dealt with this week,” he said.
The school board will continue discussions at a later date.