By Dylan Vidovich, The Logan Banner
LOGAN, W.Va. — During a visit by state education officials — including state superintendent of schools Michele L. Blatt — to the most recent meeting of the Logan County Board of Education, one board member called the state’s 2022 takeover of the county school system a purely political move.
Blatt, along with Assistant Superintendent of District & School Accountability Jeffrey Kelley, were at the Tuesday, Jan. 9 meeting of the Logan County Board of Education to provide an update on the state’s intervention into Logan County Schools, which has been in effect since Oct. 27, 2022. The two were there to provide an update on the progress made in the county during the takeover, as well as field questions from board members, who were stripped of virtually all their powers as a result of it.
Blatt said the visit was in response to a letter penned to her by three of the five county board members requesting an update on the matter.
During her initial presentation, Blatt urged board members — and Logan County citizens — to put politics aside, saying that the takeover was solely a result of the findings presented in the state’s 28-page special circumstance review, not a backdoor scheme in Charleston.
“I’m asking, from my position, that Logan County put the politics aside, put the rumors aside, and focus on making Logan County Schools the very best that it can be for the children of Logan County,” Blatt said, “and that means that we have to start focusing on the teaching and learning and making sure that what’s happening in our schools is benefitting the kids.”