WHITESVILLE, W.Va. — It was an emotional evening inside Whitesville Elementary School’s gymnasium Thursday evening.
Boone County Board of Education officials held their fourth and final closure or consolidation hearing of the week. The county is proposing consolidating Whitesville students into Sherman Elementary School beginning next fall, in addition to shutting down Van Elementary and Van Junior/Senior High School. High school students would join Scott High School after the changes.
Additionally, the Van Junior/High School property would be transformed into a PreK-8 facility after this school year ends.
Several residents pleaded with education officials to find another way than closing Whitesville Elementary’s doors.
“This place, it’s magical,” Whitesville Elementary teacher Kelsey Purdue said, fighting back tears. “I know you’re looking at me, thinking I’m just a number or I’m a dollar sign. This place is home. My coworkers were family. My kids go here. My daughter, she has down syndrome, and this is her home.”
The changes because of $3.5 million in deficits, Boone County Superintendent of Schools Allen Sexton said. Education leaders visited Scott and Sherman Elementary for “receiving-school” hearings on Monday and Wednesday, respectively, and a “closing-school” hearing on Tuesday in Van.
Sexton said that Whitesville would need around $19.8 million in repairs and other modernization work. In the end, he said, the board determined that consolidation was the most prudent move going forward. Final action on the closures and consolidations, however, won’t be taken until a special meeting on Thursday, October 8.
Whitesville Fire Chief Matt Lively asked the board whether closing Whitesville and the Van schools is the way to go.
“During these times, we have to examine every penny coming in and out and look for areas of waste,” Lively said. “We have to prioritize our goals, visions, and expenditures to only those mission critical. Your mission is to ensure each child receives a proper education and a foundation for success. This shouldn’t be a mission that requires traveling from our communities to achieve.”
Sexton replied that the board came up with three options in proceeding forward. He said the first option was to “do nothing,” in which case Boone County Schools would be unable to make payroll three years from now. The second option was to cut 47 positions districtwide, which would equal the $3.5 million needed to be slashed. The third choice was to close two facilities, which is what they ultimately landed on.
Purdue told the board that her son has ADHD and Whitesville’s facility is a safe place. She implored them to look beyond the dollars and cents to see the people impacted.
“Ask yourself, what if that was your granddaughter? Your daughter? Your son, your grandson?” Purdue said. “Would you feel comfortable taking that away from them, throwing them somewhere that they’ve never been, with people they don’t know, and have to restart? Because that’s what you’re doing to our kids. This is their home.”
Several residents wanted answers about how the issues came about. Warren Daniel said he’s voted for each of the school system’s excess levies, including the last one. He wondered where the money went.
“At that time, we were told, before we voted, if it passed, it would keep all the county schools open through 2030 as I understand it,” Daniel said. “Further, it would fund positions above state formula.”
Sexton said that the levy includes two items relating to personnel, salary supplements and over-formula positions. Both are $2.5 million annually. Sexton said that the $2.5 million that goes to support over-formula positions will fund 60 persons.
Currently, the district is employing around 90 positions above the state funding formula. “That presents an issue,” Sexton said.
Sexton reported that annual expenditures in Boone County Schools are around $45 million. Meanwhile, he said the district brings in around $36 million in revenue each year and the excess levy funds around $7 million.
This year, he said, the system had to draw $3.5 million from its general fund to balance the budget. While the general fund had been at $13.5 million, it’s now down to $10 million. That sort of reliance on the fund isn’t sustainable, Sexton said.
“You can see, if we do that on an annual basis, keep dipping into that (fund), it will deplete that over a very short amount of time,” Sexton said.
Whitesville Mayor Fred Harless told the board that his coworker lives near Van, and the consolidations are going to result in long bus rides. Harless expressed concern about such long rides for young children.
“To have a child on that bus for that long made me start thinking about the kid that’s going to be on the bus over here on Big Coal River,” Harless said. “We’re not talking about junior high, high school kids. We’re talking about little kids and that is very disturbing.”
Sexton said that the longest estimated bus route would be 45 minutes going forward.
As for the Whitesville property into the future, Sexton said it won’t remain in Boone County Schools’ hands if the proposal is approved.
“This building sits on land that the county does not own,” Sexton said. “There is a reverter clause in the deed. So, upon closure, this building would revert back to the original landowner, which currently has this property for sale. It would be a new landowner at some point that owns the property.”