PINEVILLE, WV (WOAY) – This past Saturday, Wyoming County moved into orange on the color coding scale for the first time.
The response was to move all schools to 100% remote learning for the entirety of this week. This morning, the county moved into the red. The Wyoming County Board of Education has been in constant communication with the county health department monitoring COVID trends.
“You want to have children in class and in school as much as we possibly can,” said Director of Student Services and Attendance John Henry. “However, safety is the top priority of Wyoming County Schools. That’s one of the great things about speaking with the health department on a regular basis, is staying up to date on those trends of data throughout the week.”
Two schools within the county had been in quarantine over the past couple of weeks. Working through that has allowed the Board of Education to prepare for a situation where the whole county would have to be remote.
“We’ve been working with our principals and our teachers to have packets available for students just in case something like this were to occur,” Henry said. “You always want to try to plan ahead as much as you possibly can. Our staff continues to come to the building to work, and that’s what occurred today.”
There’s no way to predict when students will be back in the classrooms, but the Board of Education is already working to make the remote situation as productive as possible for when students do come back.
“We’re using this time in the buildings right now, as I said for teachers to be available for questions from students to help with any remote learning,” Henry said. “Also, our custodians are coming from 1-6 each day to provide a little bit (of) extra cleaning in those classrooms.”
It will be the weekly updates from the DHHR that determine when the county will be able to bring students back. The Board of Education is hoping that the community comes together and stays safe, so students will be back sooner rather than later. Wyoming County is continuing to feed students throughout the transition to remote learning.
