CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Federation of Teachers President Fred Albert says it’s a bleak time for Kanawha County after six schools are set to be closed down and with no other way around it following enrollment and population loss.
Albert recently came on 580 Live with Dave Allen to discuss the closures, which immediately had followed the vote by the Kanawha County Board of Education to close Belle Elementary.
He said losing a school in the community is always a sad day, and for Belle, it comes as even more of a personal loss to him. 
“It is heartbreaking, and actually, this one is very personal for me because I attended Belle Elementary School when Louise Bryant was the principal, we were then known as a Model School,” Albert said.
On Monday evening the board will meet again to hear from the public and take a vote to close Malden Elementary. Then, on Tuesday, they will again do the same for Midland Trail Elementary.
This comes after last week’s decision to not only close down Belle Elementary, but also Mary Ingles Elementary School in Eastern Kanawha County.
The week prior, the board also voted to close two county middle schools, East Bank Middle School and McKinley Middle School in St. Albans.
The closure of the six schools are a part of a consolidation plan to address the declining enrollment/ population in the county.
The plan is for East Bank Middle to consolidate with Dupont Middle School and McKinley Middle to consolidate with Hayes Middle School. They plan to consolidate all four of the elementary schools into one big new school in the next coming years.
Albert said the main issue he sees with this plan are the larger class sizes it will inevitably bring with it. He said students tend to feel the effects of being in a larger class more as opposed to a smaller class size.
“I have been a long time advocate for smaller class sizes, because we know students really thrive in a smaller setting where they are known by everyone on staff,” he said.
However, when a county loses 5,000 students within 10 years, Albert said there’s really no other choice left but to close and consolidate.
Albert said he was teaching at Midway Elementary School when it closed and consolidated with Mary Ingles, which is now set to close.
He said these closures are a very sad thing to see but there’s no other way around it.
“It’s a tough, tough situation for everyone, but again, what are you going to do when the numbers are just against you and you can’t continue to do business as you’ve done in the past with a shrinking population,” said Albert.
The public hearing for Malden Elementary School will be held Monday at 6 p.m. at Riverside High School.