CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Department of Education approved unanimous decisions Tuesday that pre-K through eighth-grade students will return to in-person instruction five days a week, and Grades 9-12 will attend five days a week in person for counties that are not red.
During a press conference Friday, Gov. Jim Justice said he wanted a return to in-person learning and was asking the state board of education to mandate that all counties send students in Grades K-8 back to school full time, stating that COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths have been dropping to the lowest point since November in the state due to the vaccination effort.
Following the state board’s actions, students in pre-K through eighth grade will attend in-person learning beginning March 3 regardless of the county’s color on the Department of Health Resources County Alert System map.
“The No. 1 priority is having school safe. We understand all the concerns related to going back to school. We know teachers and school staff are working hard and are concerned about safety measures. But so are we, and anybody who thinks we are not concerned about the safety of our young people, they are wrong,” state BOE President Miller L. Hall said. “We are struggling as a country, we’re struggling, but we will make it through. We have got to be a team, and I think, in some ways, we are fragmented. When you are fragmented, you don’t function well.” …
