At Mabscott Elementary School in Raleigh County, teachers take home kids’ dirty clothes and wash them. In the low-income area, they also buy their students new outfits.
And the kids learn from their generous ways. They participate in food drives, coat drives and give out food baskets to community members.
Tonya Patton, who adopted her granddaughter Emery when she was 4, said that one year, in lieu of gifts for her birthday, Emery raised $400 for a pet adoption event.
This year, the tiny school with just over 200 students is among the schools district officials have selected for a merger or closure, pending local and state board of education votes.
“Every student in that school wants to stay there,” Patton said. “No one is listening to them.”
Another Raleigh County grade school, Cranberry-Prosperity Elementary School, is also up for consolidation, along with schools in Mingo, Logan, Boone, Nicholas and Taylor counties.
Raleigh Schools Superintendent Serena Starcher did not respond to a request for an interview nor did Raleigh County Board of Education President Rick Snuffer. But in public statements, Starcher said schools need to close because the district faces declining enrollment, which leads to less state funding.
But several people with connections to the school find that hard to believe, when the same school district is planning millions of dollars in renovations to Woodrow Wilson High School.
“To me, it’s like they’re tone deaf,” said Dr. Patricia Harvey, a Mabscott teacher. “They act like they don’t have any funding.”
People running for elected office this year want to address closures and help students — ideas ranged from more oversight of state school board spending to more money in the school funding formula for small schools in low-income areas.
Small classes… small budgets
Patton and her granddaughter live in Beckley, out of the Mabscott school district. But Patton knew the close-knit school would be better for Emery, who needed the individualized care the teachers could give.
Emery has blossomed and is active in a litany of school activities, from sports like cheerleading and volleyball to student government.
“I chose it,” Patton said. “I chose it out of all the schools in Raleigh County.”
And Mabscott has benefited her too. She’d felt overwhelmed by the idea of parenting again, but teachers and other parents surrounded her with help.
Now she teaches STEM lessons at the school, and she’s a secondary grandma to all the students.
But now, Emery is stressed and frequently has crying spells. She doesn’t want to spend her final year of grade school with strangers.
“I just feel like we have lost sight of what’s important,” Patton said. “And that is the student.”
About 140 public schools have closed across the state since 2011. The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy points to declining enrollment, the end of COVID relief funds, funds diverted to the Hope Scholarship and an outdated school funding formula as contributors.
And lawsuits have also been filed over what plaintiffs say is inequitable funding in poorer counties, while the Hope Scholarship reduces much-needed public school funding.
In the midterm election Nov. 3, incumbent Sen. Rollan Roberts, R-Raleigh, faces challenger Christy Cardwell, a Democrat, to represent the district which includes Mabscott Elementary School.
Roberts has attended board meetings and been unsatisfied with explanations for the closures. He also said he doesn’t buy accusations that private schools, like the one he runs, are to blame. He said it’s only had minor increases in enrollment in recent years.
At the same time, Roberts does believe downsizing to some extent is necessary — he proposed turning some public schools that close into charter schools, so that students can stay local.
He also suggested using virtual school platforms to keep schools open but with fewer teachers.
Cardwell, in written responses to questions, said she supports the research-based recommendations of the nonpartisan RAND report prepared for — but so far disregarded by — the House of Delegates.
Among other proposals, researchers suggested limiting the Hope Scholarship to families with lower incomes, allocating more funding to districts with more students who are low-income, have disabilities or are learning English as a second language and focusing on hiring higher-performing teachers versus higher-paid teachers with more seniority.
“I see both sides of this issue,” she added. “School systems have to be financially responsible, but small schools are the hearts of their communities.”
There must be a way to balance the books without closing those small schools.”
Like the Mabscott parents, she also had doubts about the cost savings of a school closure.
Sen. Brian Helton, R-Fayette, whose district includes Raleigh County and Mabscott, is not up for re-election, but he also shared his perspective. He said lawmakers need more oversight of the state Department of Education so they can determine how education officials can save money.
He also believes eventually, the state will have to move to a regional school system with fewer schools instead of a county-based system.
A matter of elected officials’ priorities
Karah Sheppard, of Mingo County, was born and raised in the isolated community of Dingess.
Like generations of her family before her, she went to Dingess Elementary School — now up for consolidation.
She remembers wearing sandwich bags over her feet on rainy days and picking up pop cans for money.
But at school, another tight-knit school like Mabscott, teachers paid close attention to her. They helped her figure out her strengths and build confidence.
They weren’t burned out and exhausted from managing large classrooms. They realized she could read at a college level, so they found her books, and she went on to become valedictorian.
Today, Sheppard is a member of the Army National Guard and a volunteer firefighter. No one in her family went to college. She is working on her second master’s degree.
“I think a lot about where I would be if I didn’t have those positive influences in my life that actually made time for me,” she said.
Her son is 3, and she’d wanted to send him to Dingess as well. Now she says she’ll likely homeschool.
But she’s also struggling to imagine how she’ll be able to homeschool as a single mother working several jobs.
“How do I make a choice between trying to make sure my baby’s getting the best education while trying to maintain bills?” she said. “We still need to survive.”
Troy Alexander, spokesperson for the district, said the decline in student enrollment there is due to families moving following coal mine closures, population decline due to the aging population and a minor increase in students using the Hope Scholarship.
“We love the small schools as well,” he said. “It’s just with the funding formula right now, how it’s based upon how many students are enrolled, it’s impossible for us to justify keeping those schools open financially.”
He said Mingo school officials are largely in favor of the state Board of Education’s position on the school funding formula, which echoes that of the RAND report.
Sen. Mark Maynard, R-Wayne, represents the district that includes the school and is running for re-election. He didn’t return calls seeking interviews, but last month, he sent a press release in which he said he wanted the federal government to give states more flexibility in how they spend education funding.
He also said he wanted to review how the state funds services for kids who need more attention and those with disabilities, and he acknowledged some students need that extra attention at smaller schools.
“I am a fiscal conservative, and government has a responsibility to spend taxpayers’ money wisely,” he said. “But we also need to recognize that not everything of value can be measured on a spreadsheet.”
Another supporter of the RAND report, Maynard’s opponent Wyatt Lilly, a Democrat, wants to see its recommendation of more funding for special education as well as more money for small schools in rural areas be enacted.
While lawmakers are in constant discussion about updating the school funding formula now, he said incumbents could have taken action and heeded the report’s recommendations already but chose not to.
He wants parents to have education choices available to them, like local private schools. But that doesn’t mean he supports tax dollars leaving the state school system and going to those schools, resulting in public school closures.
“It’s just a matter of choices,” he said. “These school closures are not inevitable. We can keep these schools open. We just have to prioritize it and have the right leadership in Charleston.”
Back in Mabscott, Misty Thomas, too, is raising kids — her grandkids — all over again, and several need extra support due to problems like anxiety and depression.
She said her grandson has trouble with food textures, so the cooks fix him special meals and pay out of their own pockets.
When she and her husband received one child at 5, he didn’t know his ABCs, colors, numbers or shapes. By mid-kindergarten, he was up to speed.
At a small school, the kids have built trust and become close to staff and classmates. They can talk about those challenging feelings or just ask for a hug.
And teachers notice when something’s off, whether it’s a medication side effect or signs kids had a bad night.
“These kids will be pushed in the background, especially the special needs kids,” Thomas said. “They’re going to become another number.”
Stability is especially important for kids with emotional disabilities. She worries kids will regress.
Her grandson Trayden, 7, did write a letter to the school board. He said he had a hard time with change.
“I know I am just a kid,” he said. “But I think kids should get to have a voice when something this important is happening to our school. So please listen to us.”
