On the heels of a lengthy and scathing review officials with the West Virginia Department of Education have announced the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind (WVSDB) campus is now open to the residents of Romney and its surrounding communities. State Superintendent of Schools W. Clayton Burch says “We have a gorgeous campus at Romney. The mayor, county commission, economic development and community folks I have been meeting with over the past several months have been so supportive because there are some wonderful opportunities there.” Burch has been active in the review process at the WVSDB since the process began in April. The review found non compliance issues in the areas of student care, instruction, special education, personnel, leadership, facilities, transportation, financial indicators and purchasing. Burch says now the focus is moving forward in a positive direction. “We used to at one point in time used to do something called a short course and we want to look at modernizing that. We want the ability in the future where families from across the state can come there to Romney. They can stay in the dorms and they can actually meet other families with children who are deaf and blind. And provide training not for children only but for parents and teachers. There is so much we can do with our universities and colleges with young people going into this field to actually be able to visit and stay on campus and support the school as well.”
Burch says engaging the community in the future of the school is critical because the campus is a huge asset to the city of Romney and Hampshire County. “That was one of the biggest concerns that community members had made. We all understood that for a variety of reasons the campus was closed down I know the pandemic lead a little bit to that. But it is a beautiful campus a lot of the residents of Romney and surrounding communities reached out to me personally to say listen we like to walk the trails we like to use the walking paths so this week we announced the campus is open to the community. We will look forward to the fall when children arrive and what that will look like with it being the walking track and keeping the children safe. We want the community there on campus and we definitely want the campus open to the community.”
Burch adds “The mayor of Romney has been so kind and I think what has happened is by seeing myself and my staff from Charleston we want them to realize that we understand what this campus means to the city and the town and the community and the region. And our goal is you know we’ve got a lot of buildings, a lot of unused buildings so we will actually be looking to work with economic development and the community members. We want to hear there ideas there are some buildings on the external areas of campus and how can we bring more people more business and involve the community more.”
Burch says he has a main message for the community. “This review was tough because we are talking about children and children’s wellbeing and safety and education. You know there is no doubt in my mind we have wonderful teachers and folks that work there at the campus that want to do the right thing for these children. We will make this a campus for the future. This will be a beacon of what working with all families for deaf and blind across the state looks like.”
The campus includes 77 acres of open green space, and features a walking trail, playground and plenty of opportunities for outdoor activities. The campus is open seven days a week from dawn to dusk.