SPENCER, W.Va. –The Roane County Board of Education voted Thursday night to close two of their elementary/middle schools and consolidate their students into nearby schools.
Board members voted 4-1 to close Geary Elementary/Middle School and Walton Elementary/Middle School. Their K-5 students will be consolidated into Spencer Elementary, grades 6-8 will move to Spencer Middle, and Pre-K students will be placed in the space at Roane County High School currently occupied by the Office of Student Support Services.
The vote comes after the county experienced a significant decrease in student enrollment and was placed under a State of Emergency by the state Board of Education in July. The state board took over due to financial issues and the county’s failure to develop a consolidation plan. The local board had previously voted against closing Geary and Walton in November of last year.
Parent Justin Shears appeared on MetroNews Midday prior to the vote and said the main concern among parents was the transportation plan the county would need to implement if the closures were approved.
“With the policy set forth and the maximum bus ride times basically, we’re going to have 104 students that aren’t even going to have bus service any more due to the fact to meet those requirements of not having a bus ride over an hour, they’re just having to cut routes,” Shears said.
Prior to the vote, the board held five public hearings on the matter. The main issue raised during those meetings was the School Aid Formula.
Board President Jeff Mace addressed the funding issue, stating that the formula needs to be modernized and should focus more on the needs of students rather than student enrollment.
“It only takes into account of how many students you have in the county, enrollment and resource driven, meaning x number of students, get you x number of dollars, gets you x number of teachers and personnel,” he said.
Shears stated that the right thing to do was to vote no, as he believes this will cause more issues in the long run for West Virginia if rural schools continue to consolidate.
“This is a bigger problem than just Roane County, it’s a bigger problem than just education, this is one of our major issues with economic development in our state,” he said. “I believe if we don’t invest in our education, we’re just going to continue to drive all of our young people and our young talent out of the state and we’re going to prevent people from coming in.”
Mace said these decisions are not easy, especially given their impact on the community.
“It’s everything that you’ve (the parents) have said in the public hearings, it tears communities apart, it is devastating to the children, it forces parents to pick up and make decision they’ve never thought they would have to make,” he said.
The decision now goes to the state Board of Education for final approval. If the board approves, the schools will close at the conclusion of the 2025-2026 school year.