Recent editorials from West Virginia newspapers:
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March 21
The Exponent Telegram calls for a first line of defense in schools:
It seems surreal to have to be talking about “defense” when it comes to public or private schools. And yet here in the 21st Century, besides having to teach the fundamentals of education, school systems also have to worry about having a procedure in place to protect our students from violence that most of us would have never imagined while growing up.
On Tuesday, at Great Mills High School in Great Mills, Maryland, another school shooting occurred. This time, a 17-year-old walked into the school with a semi-automatic handgun.
He shot a 16-year-old girl, whom he had apparently been in a relationship with, then wounded a 14-year-old boy. Both students survived the attack.
Within a minute of the initial shots fired, Great Mills’ resource officer, St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Deputy Blaine Gaskill, confronted the assailant and exchanged gunfire.
The shooter was mortally wounded, dying later at a nearby hospital. While it remains unclear if the teenage shooter was shot by the deputy or perhaps his own bullet, there is no question the quick actions of the officer potentially saved lives.
“. Having a trained, professional school resource officer made a difference,” Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin, a Democrat, said. “. Armed school resource officers are available in our high schools, and that’s important.”
We wholeheartedly agree. And that’s why we’re glad to see the partnership between Harrison County Schools and local law enforcement.
In Harrison County, every high school has a law enforcement presence, with the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department taking the lead in three of the schools - Liberty, South Harrison and United. Clarksburg Police have an officer assigned to Robert C. Byrd, while Shinnston covers Lincoln High, and Bridgeport covers Bridgeport High.
Also, because most of the middle schools sit adjacent to the high schools, the resource officer is also available at all middle schools in the county, with the lone exception being Washington Irving.
Currently, the school system is paying Clarksburg officers on a part-time basis to cover that school, although Clarksburg Police Chief Robbie Hilliard and Harrison Schools Director of Safety and Discipline Ken Winkie have worked on a plan to have a full-time Prevention Resource Officer back at WI starting in the fall.
Winkie has been a driving force in the Prevention Resource Officer program, and he believes the goal should be an officer in every school.
“In a perfect scenario, I would want an officer in every school,” Winkie said. “Our schools are like small communities. We have police patrolling our communities. Why wouldn’t we want them in our schools?”
Winkie, a veteran law enforcement officer who worked 25 years for the DEA, said the PRO officers “are a benefit to all.”
“It’s a member of the community embedded in the schools,” Winkie said. “The students bond with them, learn to trust law enforcement and learn valuable lessons from them.”
And in the case of Great Mills High School, the officer was there to serve and protect, preventing what could have been another mass killing from taking place.
We’re thankful that officer was there. And we’re thankful to see such a cooperative effort between law enforcement and the school system here. We applaud the sheriff, chiefs of police and Winkie for making students’ safety a high priority.
We also applaud other nearby counties, like Doddridge, Lewis, Taylor and Marion, which also have made the sound decisions to put officers in schools.
We can lament the situation and say, “Well, it just shouldn’t be.” Or we can prepare and plan, taking every precaution to keep our students safe.
Harrison and other North Central West Virginia county school systems have the right idea in place - Prevention Resource Officers.
Online: https://www.wvnews.com/
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March 20
The Intelligencer on preventing fraud at West Virginia’s funeral homes:
People making funeral arrangements for loved ones are at their most vulnerable, in many ways. Those who complete the task for themselves, often years in advance of the need, can be victimized for an entirely different reason.
That is why West Virginia has a Board of Funeral Examiners, complete with an executive director. The board and its head are supposed to safeguard people from unscrupulous funeral directors.
The vast majority of people in that line of work are good, conscientious men and women. They get into the business because helping people in their time of need appeals to them.
But a tiny minority, such as former Putnam County funeral director Chad Harding, see the business as a golden opportunity to profit at the expense of others.
Harding was sentenced to as many as 30 years in prison recently, for committing insurance fraud. His scheme involved cashing in more than 100 pre-need funeral plans for people who were very much alive.
Yet, even as he was being investigated, the state funeral board allowed him to retain his license. Auditors asked by the Legislature to look into the situation found several situations in which the board failed to protect the public from fraudulent activity.
That prompted lawmakers to approve a bill that would have eliminated the board and transferred its duties to the secretary of state’s office. Both the state Senate and House of Delegates approved the measure by substantial margins.
But then, in one of those slipups that tends to occur in the closing days of the legislative session, the bill did not receive final approval of a necessary technical change.
So the board remains in charge. Four of the board’s seven members resigned after the Harding fiasco. Three positions remain vacant, subject to appointments by Gov. Jim Justice.
He should be exceedingly cautious in naming people to the board. Members whose first loyalty is to the public, not the funeral home community, are needed.
In the meantime, legislators should not let the matter drop. At their first opportunity, perhaps during next year’s regular session, they should reconsider and pass the bill that fell through the cracks this year.
Online: http://www.theintelligencer.net/
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March 19
The Parkersburg News and Sentinel on cutting the West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts:
Even at its creation, many critics said West Virginia’s Department of Education and the Arts was not needed. Its functions could be handled more efficiently through then-existing arms of state government, it was pointed out. The department is an unnecessary layer of duplicative bureaucracy.
Its functions can be distributed to other agencies.
Unfortunately, politics has been injected into the matter.
Gayle Manchin, a longtime member of the state Board of Education and the wife of U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., was secretary of the Department of Education and the Arts until a week ago. She opposed HB 4006.
Apparently because of her method of urging that Gov. Jim Justice veto the bill, he fired her.
Gayle Manchin believes HB 4006 was politically motivated. Both chambers of the Legislature are controlled by Republicans. The governor is a Republican, though he was a Democrat when he appointed her to the post in January 2017.
Virtually anything that happens in the Capitol complex has some political ramifications. How strong a factor politics was in this case is unknown.
But, again, the department has been the subject of sharp criticism for decades. Calls to eliminate it in the name of better government efficiency are not new.
Gayle Manchin has some valid concerns about existing programs under the department’s supervision. Some of them, such as the Governor’s Honors Academy for young students and the Center for Professional Development of educators, are very important. Extreme care needs to be taken to ensure they do not suffer from a transition in oversight.
Eliminating the department will save taxpayers money. Politics aside, such action is long overdue.
Online: http://www.newsandsentinel.com/
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