OAK HILL, WV (WOAY) – West Virginia Board of Education now has a new board member, and some are wondering why.
Two days after the election, Gov. Jim Justice replaced West Virginia Board of Education member Dave Perry, despite Perry wanting to keep his role.
“I had no idea that this was coming. The elections was over on the third and on Nov. 5th I was replaced,” Former Board of Education President Dave Perry said.
Perry says he believes his political party affiliation and not agreeing with certain issues played a huge part in the governor’s decision.
“Well I think the political motivation was my non support for Jim Justice. The personal motivation was because of disagreements I had with certain members on the board in terms of elevations, deficiencies, and moral issues, etc.”
Justice appointed Perry in 2017 to an unexpired term of a board member who resigned. That term has now expired, giving justice the authority to replace Perry with a new member.
“No one person is going to affect things that much, but it was a great deal of camaraderie and a great deal of stability that had created in a result of the governor’s appointments, so why undo that is questionable.”
During his career, Perry has been a teacher and principal for 30 years at Collins and Mount Hope Middle schools in Fayette County.
