Nine Takeovers, One Crisis: West Virginia's Systemic School Failure

Over the past several years, the West Virginia Board of Education has launched a series of Special Circumstance Reviews, culminating in nine county-level interventions and state takeovers. These actions, grounded in West Virginia Code §18-2E-5 and WVBE Policy 2322, reveal a pattern of persistent financial mismanagement, administrative dysfunction, failure to provide safe and supportive learning environments, and violations of state and federal law across West Virginia's public schools.

These cases represent more than isolated failures; they are a signal of systemic noncompliance without consequence, demanding urgent policy reform.

The nine Special Circumstance Reviews conducted in West Virginia between 2023 and 2025 reveal a troubling pattern of systemic failure that threatens students' educational rights, the integrity of public funds, and the stability of the state's public education system. Collectively, these cases underscore the need for strengthened oversight mechanisms, clear statutory safeguards, and enhanced transparency to prevent future governance breakdowns.

What Is a Special Circumstance Review?

The West Virginia Department of Education's Special Circumstance Review represents an accountability framework designed to address significant failures of county-level school systems through a structured, multi-phase investigation and intervention process. Triggered by written requests from stakeholders—which may include the community or parents—or formal assessments addressing issues ranging from criminal allegations and academic failures to board dysfunction and safety concerns, these reviews begin with formal notification to district leadership and proceed to intensive on-site evaluations.

WVDE teams, at the behest of the Board of Education, examine financial practices, governance effectiveness, special education compliance, administrative leadership, and related operational controls. Following issuance of the final findings, districts receive formal reports outlining deficiencies and are traditionally granted six months to implement corrective action, though the West Virginia Board of Education retains authority to declare a state of emergency.

Doing so allows the Board to assume direct control of the county's operations, including appointing new superintendents, stripping the local board of decision-making power, and directly managing administrative functions if progress towards correction proves unsatisfactory or immediate intervention is warranted. Recent applications of this process in counties including Boone, Pocahontas, and Mingo demonstrate its scope, with state control persisting for, at times, years, until the board determines that all identified extraordinary circumstances have been adequately resolved.

These Special Circumstance Reviews therefore, serve as one of the most consequential accountability mechanisms in West Virginia's educational governance structure

The Nine Counties: A Pattern of Failure

Upshur County Schools (2023-2024) revealed one of the most sweeping examples of fiscal mismanagement and ethical violations. Investigators uncovered widespread misuse of federal ESSER funds, including unallowable expenditures on staff retreats, meals, and employee stipends. The district spent over $34,000 of Title II funds on a teaching conference in Chicago, including costs for individuals not employed by the district. Federal nutrition funds were improperly spent purchasing iPads and MacBooks. The superintendent employed an immediate family member who lacked a bachelor's degree or teacher certification, raising serious concerns about nepotism and student safety.

Martinsburg North Middle School (June 2024) was placed under a state of emergency due to an alarming combination of unsafe school conditions, academic stagnation, and leadership disintegration. Students and staff were subject to unsafe or unhealthy environments, including inconsistent behavior management, weak administrative oversight, and inadequate supervision throughout the building. The school lacked high-quality, standards-based instruction, and classroom observations revealed inconsistent teaching practices.

Philippi Middle School (January 2024) in Barbour County was found in deep crisis, both academically and behaviorally. Responsible for 41% of all disciplinary referrals across the county, the school failed to maintain order and provide a safe learning environment. In response to bathroom incidents, school leadership locked seventh-grade bathrooms, resulting in student accidents and bullying. Despite the prevalence of Level 4 offenses—the most serious classification under state law—the school failed to issue expulsions as required.

Pocahontas County High School (January 2025) revealed institutional failures that compromised academic integrity, student safety, and administrative oversight. Investigators uncovered instances of grade falsification and transcript manipulation, including pressure from administrators to change student grades during credit recovery. A disturbing lack of data security was uncovered, including unsecured access to student information and special education documentation.

Tyler County Schools (May 2025) identified significant violations of governance norms and ethical standards by the county Board of Education. Most notably, the Board conducted executive sessions on 53 occasions over four years, far exceeding what would reasonably be expected and raising serious concerns about transparency and accountability. Board members admitted to disclosing confidential student and parent information in public forums, creating clear risks of noncompliance with federal privacy law (FERPA).

Mingo County Schools (May 2025) uncovered longstanding governance failures culminating in immediate state intervention. Chronic dysfunction among board members included repeated violations of open meeting laws and decisions made outside of public view. One board member was quoted as saying he would "never vote to close [the elementary school] because it was a campaign promise," even though the building was operating at only 22% capacity, highlighting how personal and political motivations overrode fiscal responsibility.

Nicholas County Schools (May 2025) identified deeply concerning personnel practices that compromised student safety and violated state policy. Central to the findings was the employment of a close relative of the superintendent who was a registered sex offender—a fact disclosed on the individual's job application. The individual began working prior to completion of the required background check, and the superintendent later acknowledged deliberately avoiding review of the results, stating he "knew something would come back and didn't want to know what it was."

Randolph County Schools (May 2025) found the district on the brink of fiscal collapse, driven largely by weak governance and an unwillingness to make difficult but necessary corrective decisions. Despite a projected $2.8 million budget deficit, the county board declined to approve a school consolidation plan that would have addressed chronically under-enrolled facilities and generated substantial operational savings.

Roane County Schools (July 2025) revealed a district in serious fiscal distress, driven by irresponsible staffing and facility decisions that ignored enrollment realities and budgetary limits. Despite operating at 45% of its building capacity, the district proceeded with plans to construct a new school. The district projected a $2.9 million deficit for the 2026 school year and reported $600,000 in excess special education expenditures.

Three Patterns, One Crisis

Across these nine counties, three distinct but interconnected patterns emerge:

Financial mismanagement: Districts repeatedly overspent despite declining enrollment, misused federal funds, employed staff above formula, built or maintained buildings far beyond capacity needs, and made irresponsible financial commitments during fiscal distress.

Governance breakdown: Boards conducted business in secret, violated open meetings laws, disclosed confidential student information, operated without updated policies, made decisions based on political promises rather than student needs, and created climates of fear and retaliation among staff.

Academic and safety failures: Schools failed to maintain safe learning environments, misunderstood or ignored state discipline policy, employed uncertified or criminally unsuitable staff, manipulated grades and transcripts, and operated without coherent instructional systems or behavioral frameworks.

This is not a funding crisis. It is not a problem confined to a few "bad actors." It is a structural collapse of accountability, transparency, and basic governance across West Virginia's public education system.

West Virginia's students deserve schools where safety is assured, learning is expected, and public resources are used to achieve both. Every day reform is delayed represents another day lost to disorder, stagnation, and diminished opportunity.

The question is not whether these failures occurred. The evidence is overwhelming. The question is whether West Virginia has the resolve to fix them.

What Comes Next

In the articles that follow, we will examine each of these patterns in depth, drawing on the documentary evidence from these nine reviews to understand how West Virginia arrived at this moment—and what must be done to ensure that state takeover leads to genuine transformation, not merely administrative reshuffling.

Article 2 will follow the money trail, revealing how districts spent millions in federal COVID relief funds on everything except sustainable student outcomes, and why the common refrain that "schools need more funding" doesn't match the evidence.

Article 3 will expose the governance failures that allowed school boards to operate in secret, prioritize political promises over children's futures, and create toxic cultures where employees feared retaliation for doing the right thing.

Article 4 will document the safety scandal that allowed a registered sex offender to work in schools, left classrooms unsupervised, and put students at risk through background check failures and administrative negligence.

Article 5 will examine why West Virginia students rank among the worst in the nation academically, and why the answer has less to do with teacher quality than with a fundamentally broken approach to what and how students learn.

Article 6 will chart a path forward with specific, actionable policy reforms designed to restore financial accountability, academic coherence, and safe, orderly schools where every child can learn.

For parents wondering why their child's school feels chaotic, for taxpayers questioning where their dollars actually go, for educators exhausted by dysfunction, and for policymakers seeking solutions grounded in evidence rather than excuses—this series will provide insight, data, and a roadmap for change.

The stakes could not be higher. West Virginia's future depends on getting this right.