ROMNEY, W.Va. –The West Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind in Romney has undergone significant improvements since the current superintendent took over three years ago.
Clayton Burch, superintendent of the West Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind, provided an update on the school’s improvements to the West Virginia Board of Education during its meeting last week.
Burch said since his appointment last year he has focused on improving four key areas: operations, facilities, academics and outreach.
Burch said a 2020 finding by the state Purchasing Division revealed the school had 45 critical purchasing and spending violations. When the school received the four-year follow-up three weeks ago, there was only one minor finding.
He said the improvement was the result of a partnership between the board and himself.
“That’s kudos to the West Virginia Department of Education and the system we put in place to have finances directly attached to the department,” Burch said.
A major facilities upgrade was also needed.
Burch said that prior to 2022, a state Board of Risk and Insurance Management (BRIM) report identified 20 to 25 safety issues, including problems with elevators, lighting, and other concerns.
Burch said the school had been trying to operate 21 buildings on the 88-acre campus; however, they are now focusing on the buildings that will benefit students and the Romney community.
“We have identified seven that are critical to the operation and those are the seven that we are focusing on,” Burch said. “Buildings that the students use, two buildings that have been repurposed for the community.”
He said that the Division of Rehabilitative Services, Adult Education, Birth to Three, Children’s Home Society for foster care, Hampshire County Arts Council, Hampshire County Economic Development, tourism, and audiology are some of the programs who use the buildings on the school’s campus.
As for academics, Burch said that in 2023 they transitioned into a Career Technical Academy aimed at college readiness. Students now also have opportunities for work-based experience both on and off campus.
He said it was a twofold decision.
“We thought it was very important that if you are deaf, hard of hearing, visually impaired there is no reason you are not graduating from high school ready for a career in college like any other student,” Burch said. “Two, we have been paying attention to the transition rates for college and career for visually impaired and deaf and hard of hearing students, and it was not good.”
The school officially began classes last week and Burch said that the 2025-2026 school year is the first year they were starting out with a certified teacher in every subject and content area.
“We wanted to focus on content, and what happens when you take good content teachers and give them the support they need for DHH or VI, well the last report I sent you showed 70 percent of every child who took the GSA at the West Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind, improved between five and 10 percent from the year before,” he said.
After the update, WVDE board member Debra Sullivan said she remembered what academics at the school were like when she visited a few years before Burch became superintendent.
“And it was heartbreaking because the children were not being afforded the kind of education that would enable them to be come prosperous adults, and what I hear now is that you’re on your way and that’s so exciting to hear and see,” Sullivan said.
Burch also said they wanted to improve outreach to parents who may prefer to educate their children at home rather than send them to the Romney-based school.
He said they are revamping their outreach program to better meet the needs of counties and families.
Burch said that he believes that if they do this it will help the school in the long run.
“But for this school to be relevant moving forward, it has to be a service, to the entire state of West Virginia wherever you choose to educate your child, any county who needs support, we need to be able to figure out a way to support them wherever they are, however they need supported,” he said.