BOE changes stance on in-person learning at emergency meeting
By Toni Milbourne - For the Chronicle | Jan 29, 2021
Jefferson County students will return to five-day in-person learning on Monday. Toni Milbourne
CHARLES TOWN In an emergency meeting last week, the Jefferson County Board of Education changed their decision on having students attend school in-person, as opposed to the planned virtual education format. The board had initially voted on Jan. 14 to keep students home, rather than follow the directive of the West Virginia Board of Education to have students in grades K-8 return to school.
The board’s decision to not follow the state directive could, Superintendent Bondy Shay Gibson said, lead to sanctions against the county board. The state, Gibson said, controls what constitutes “educational minutes,” and could determine that virtual school would not count toward those minutes, potentially leading to an extension of the school year. The state could, Gibson said, a