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Not Wearing A Mask On W.Va. Campuses This Fall Could Lead To Probation, Expulsion

Updated on Aug. 12, 2020 at 9:50 a.m.

All of West Virginia’s higher education institutions have varying return-to-campus plans in place for the fall 2020 semester. But how will plans be enforced? And what consequences exist if students refuse to comply?

As early as next week, some schools in West Virginia, such as Concord University and West Virginia University, will begin fall 2020 semesters, with others like Marshall and Shepherd University starting on Aug. 24.

All of West Virginia’s higher education institutions have protective protocols in place to combat the coronavirus, such as mask-wearing and social distancing.

Like their counterparts across the nation, most colleges and universities in the state are offering a mix of in-person, virtual and hybrid courses. Dormitories, in many cases, are single-occupancy rooms and will no longer allow visitors. And all institutions have greatly increased cleaning efforts.

Many schools, such as Shepherd, have signs all over campus that read, “Please keep your face coverings on!”

Gov. Jim Justice is asking that all public and private colleges and universities in West Virginia require coronavirus testing of all students who come to campuses.

At WVU, students and staff not wearing face coverings on campus could receive a written warning, be removed from class, put on probation, or even face suspension or expulsion, according to the school’s website.

Similarly, at Shepherd, if a student refuses to wear a mask, the situation will be “treated as a conduct issue by Students Affairs and Residence Life,” the university advised in an email to West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

At Marshall, students and staff who wish to report incidents anonymously can do so through an online form. Those in violation would be “subject to the rules of the student judicial system and Board of Governors Policy No. SA-1, Student Rights and Responsibilities,” according to guidance posted on the school’s website.

“[A] formal warning comes first, followed by conduct probation, [which] limits participation in extracurricular activities and student privileges, then probationary suspension, suspension, and finally expulsion,” said Leah Payne, Marshall University’s director of University Communications.

The West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission has provided a page on its website with links to all of West Virginia’s 4-year, 2-year and private institutions’ return-to-campus guidelines, which continue to be updated as schools sort out safety policies as they begin the fall semester.

Recently, Justice provided $2.5 million dispersed among West Virginia’s colleges and universities to support COVID-19 testing on campus.

West Virginia HEPC Chancellor Sarah Armstrong Tucker said this funding will help institutions ramp up testing and reopen safely.

“This accelerated testing, combined with the far-reaching health and safety protocols schools have already activated, will allow students to continue their education – which is critical to their futures and the future of our state – with greater peace of mind,” Tucker said.

**Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story said Shepherd and Marshall would require coronavirus testing of all students living in residence halls as well as student-athletes, newly arrived international students or students coming from hot-spot areas in the U.S. This is in fact a request by Gov. Jim Justice for all students attending the state’s public and private colleges and universities.

W.Va. Governor To Sign Order Authorizing Fall Reopening Of Colleges

Gov. Jim Justice announced Friday that he will sign an executive order authorizing universities and colleges to reopen their campuses this fall.

Justice already announced his support for higher education reopening plans on Monday, before holding a closed meeting with public and private university presidents Tuesday. The group discussed coronavirus testing for out-of-state students and the implementation of face mask requirements, according to a press release from Justice’s communications office.

In West Virginia, young adults are testing positive for the coronavirus more than any other age range, according to coronavirus czar Dr. Clay Marsh.

“All around us, we see that there’s a lot of activity from COVID-19, and it’s important to note that across the country, and in West Virginia, we are seeing a rise in COVID-19 [cases] that is particularly isolated to people that are 18 to 29,” said Marsh, the executive dean of health sciences at WVU who the governor appointed in March as the state’s leading COVID-19 expert.

That age range, and people who are 30 to 39 years old, account “for a majority of the new cases in many parts of our country,” Marsh added.

Data from the state on Friday showed West Virginia’s 20-to-29-year-old age bracket was the most active, accounting for more than 23 percent of the state’s total COVID-19 cases.

According to Justice, higher education institutions have demonstrated to him they’re prepared to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

“I’m absolutely a believer that these universities and colleges have done incredible planning,” Justice said. “Each one of them has their own separate plan of how they can ensure the safety of the kids and the staff and everybody that’s there. … I believe without any doubt that we have flipped every rock, to ensure the parents of these children and all those that are involved, that we absolutely can go back to school and go back to school as safely as we possibly can.”

Across the state, colleges and universities have produced contingency plans for reopening, which include more distanced and outdoor dining options and replacing shared dormitory units with single-occupancy rooms.

The governor also said Friday that signing the order is an important step to reopening K-12. On July 8, Justice and state superintendent of schools Clayton Burch announced West Virginia will reopen classrooms Sept. 8.

The state’s re-entry toolkit for school districts includes recommendations for social distancing in the classroom and the screening of COVID-19 symptoms among children and adult personnel.

The department will issue an updated toolkit early next week, according to spokesperson Christy Day.

West Virginia education leaders have yet to elaborate on the state’s plans for when teachers and other school employees test positive for the coronavirus.

Day said in an email to West Virginia Public Broadcasting Friday that the department will have a better idea of how it’s handling teachers who test positive in either the first or second week of August, after county school districts finalize and share their individual re-entry plans with the state.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shared updated guidelines for K-12 schools on Thursday, July 23, urging schools to resume in-person classes, saying “the best available evidence” shows children with COVID-19 are less often symptomatic.

“[T]he harms attributed to closed schools on the social, emotional, and behavioral health, economic well-being, and academic achievement of children, in both the short- and long-term, are well-known and significant,” the CDC noted at the start of its most recent online recommendations.

Some health experts say it’s still unclear how the virus affects young children and teenagers. Pediatricians told NPR earlier this week it’s also uncertain how the virus spreads among children to adults.

The CDC’s new recommendations come two weeks after the president called the agency’s earlier guidelines for social distancing in the classroom “tough and expensive,” according to NPR.

Emily Allen is a Report for America corps member.

How Will Public School Look In The Fall? Here’s Perspective From The Eastern Panhandle

Last week, Gov. Jim Justice ordered all public schools in West Virginia open for the 2020-2021 school year beginning Sept. 8. Schools must provide 180 instructional days and must have a five-day school week.

Of course, this could all change depending on how the coronavirus pandemic evolves. But county school boards are starting to prepare for that date and discuss how a return to school in a pandemic would look.

Earlier this week in the Eastern Panhandle, both Jefferson and Berkeley County Schools met for special board meetings to begin outlining fall 2020.

The main message from both was what we know now will likely change before the Sept. 8 start date, and no matter when school begins, it will not be business as usual.

“It is anything but that. It will not look like the school that you left,” said Jefferson County Superintendent of Schools Bondy Shay Gibson speaking over Zoom to board members and the public.

“We will have reduced class sizes,” she said. “We will not be having lunches in the cafeteria. We will be holding class in the library. We will be holding class to a limited extent in the gymnasium. We will be utilizing spaces that currently are congregate spaces as classroom spaces in order to socially distance students.”

These are all situations that could occur if school returns to in-person learning, which the governor is hopeful will be achieved by all 55 counties.

Gibson said students age nine or older, and all faculty and staff, will be required to wear face masks throughout the school day. Frequent sanitization and hand washing will be a constant; random visitations to schools will not be allowed, and staff in Jefferson County schools will be provided with a variety of personal protective equipment.

“We will provide gloves, we will provide Tyvek suits, we will provide shoe booties, we will provide the equipment that ensure that our staff are safe, which means that students are safe,” Gibson explained.

Across the border in Berkeley County, much of the same message was sent to board members and the community, but not quite as many details as Jefferson. Berkeley County Superintendent of Schools Patrick Murphy noted in a live Zoom meeting that the county is preparing for the fall but they’re just starting to lay the groundwork.

“I know we want absolute decisions. I know we want answers. I wish I could give you all those answers,” Murphy said. “But I’m fearful that if I give you a specific answer today, tomorrow it will not carry any merit and the environment will have changed.”

Berkeley County Superintendent of Schools Patrick Murphy presents a PowerPoint to county board members and the public detailing the district’s reopening plans for the fall.

Murphy said the goal of Monday’s meeting in Berkeley County was to begin a dialogue with the public about reopening plans. He said he will be providing updates regularly.

“We need to plan. We need to think,” Murphy said. “We need to look at all of the different possibilities and progressions.”

One area discussed during Berkeley County’s meeting was fall sports and how that will look different. Don Dellinger, deputy superintendent of Berkeley County Schools, outlined some of those anticipated changes.

“There are still strict guidelines with sanitizing the equipment, social distancing … so, those are all in place,” Dellinger said. “Screenings and the daily check-ins are all still in place.”

He explained that athletes will be kept to small groups and fall practices have been slated for Aug. 17.

Murphy, the superintendent, noted that everything from sports to class instruction will have to adapt – and how schools respond to needs could change at a moment’s notice as the pandemic changes.

“I think we have to recognize it’s going to look different, and while we have a traditional model of education in our mind … what education will look like is going to be different,” he said. “And we’re going to have to adapt to that as we are adapting to many things in our life.”

Both Berkeley and Jefferson County schools also made it clear in online meetings that virtual school will be an option for any family who feels concerned about sending their child to school in person. And both counties are looking at internet access options for families in areas where broadband might not be as reliable.

“We’ve been working with the West Virginia Department of Education on a deal with Sprint that we are hopeful will come to fruition,” Gibson said. “[This] would allow a full-service unlimited data plan, in-full for the entire school year for any family that is within their coverage area, provided we can purchase the appropriate hotspots for them. That is a technical problem that we are working through, but we are actively pursuing every possible means for getting WiFi access inside the home to families.”

Both counties also noted that virtual school in the fall will look different from what happened in the spring. Virtual school in fall 2020 will, according to Gibson, have regular class meetings, accountabilities in place, testing and tutoring.

It was also acknowledged by both counties that between now and Sept. 8, or even after school begins, school for fall 2020 could end up being entirely virtual depending on the pandemic.

Also, to help limit the spread of the virus, in-person class sizes will be small, and students will likely remain in a pod, or cohort, where teachers can more easily control who those students are interacting with.

The subject of how students will be social-distanced on school buses, however, did not come up in either meeting.

All 55 of West Virginia’s counties will have the flexibility to decide how fall 2020 will look within CDC guidelines and requirements set by the governor, according to the state Board of Education.

The state BOE has provided a re-entry toolkit to each county. It offers guidance as counties complete local plans and provides a framework of requirements and recommendations.

Health Officer Urges Slow Reopening As Coronavirus Cases Persist In Berkeley County

Coronavirus cases are on the rise in the Eastern Panhandle. Berkeley County has counted 22 confirmed positive COVID-19 cases in the past three days.

Berkeley County’s total number of positive cases, as of Friday morning, is 325 with 14 probable cases, according to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, and it has the highest number of positive cases in the state.

Speaking at a press briefing Thursday, Gov. Jim Justice said state officials are closely watching the situation in the Eastern Panhandle.

“Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan Counties are counties that we are watching nonstop,” Justice said. “You know, they’re probably the most exposed counties from the standpoint of all the stuff from DC to Virginia.”

State health officer Dr. Cathy Slemp said while the numbers are higher in Berkeley County, the percent positivity of cases is staying fairly consistent.

“What we’re looking at … is both the level of disease and trends, or changes in disease,” Slemp explained. “So, we’re seeing higher levels of disease, but it’s been staying kind of steady along that path.”

But despite higher levels in the Eastern Panhandle, the state is moving forward with reopening plans. On Friday, casinos and movie theaters are set to reopen statewide.

Health officer for the Berkeley-Morgan County Health Department and the Jefferson County Health Department Dr. Terrence Reidy said in an interview over Skype that for the past few weeks, Berkeley County on average, sees about 25 new cases each week — but recently that’s increased to between 40 and 50 a week.

The region has also recently increased access to coronavirus testing.

“The hope had been that people would have understood by this point what they need to do to decrease the risk of infection,” Reidy said. “And we’re seeing that that’s not happening. We’re seeing it both in the numbers of the rising cases and the activities of people getting together and not doing the social distancing or wearing masks; the simple things that do make a difference.”

He cautions entities and residents in the Eastern Panhandle to slow down as things reopen and be mindful. He said just because reopening can happen doesn’t necessarily mean it should yet, and businesses should not operate in the same way as they did prior to the virus outbreak.

He adds that residents should take all necessary precautions, such as wearing a mask in public spaces and to still consider using curbside options at restaurants, grocery stores and other businesses when possible.

The governor’s office hasn’t said whether it will slow reopening in the Eastern Panhandle region.

At least 82 people in West Virginia have died from the virus, and 2,113 have tested positive, according to state health officials Friday morning.

Justice Outlines Additional Reopening Plans for West Virginia

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice announced Friday additional phases of the state’s reopening plan that will be rolled out over the coming weeks.

Pool halls, spas, limited video lottery, swimming pools, bowling alleys and other places of amusement will be able to open Saturday, May 30. On Monday, June 1, movie theatres and casinos will be allowed to reopen.

According to Justice’s plan, low contact youth sports as well as school sanctioned athletic and band training programs, will be able to resume practices on Monday, June 8. Adult recreation programs, including indoor racquetball, outdoor basketball and other sports will also be allowed to resume that day.

Games for youth sports will be allowed to resume on Monday, June 22 with social distancing measures in place for spectators.

Justice says additional guidelines for each of the upcoming reopenings will be available on his office’s website.

As of Friday morning, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources has reported 74 deaths related to COVID-19. The agency reports 1,906 positive tests in the state.

Justice Outlines Week 4 Reopening Plans Including Most Retail, Reduced-Capacity Restaurants

West Virginia state officials say the state will proceed with its reopening plans, with the bulk of all retail stores set to open their doors beginning Thursday, May 21.

Nearly all retail businesses will reopen to the public including specialty big box retailers such as sporting and home good stores. Malls will remain closed, but anchor stores with external entrances can reopen. Indoor dining at restaurants can resume at 50 percent capacity.

According to updated guidance documents, service at the bar will remain unavailable, however tables in “bar areas” may be used for seating. Floor plans will need to be reconfigured to allow at least six feet of separation between tables both for indoor and outdoor seating.

Gov. Jim Justice also announced that campgrounds at state parks will reopen May 21, while cabins and lodges will reopen to in-state residents beginning on May 26.

The push comes ahead of the upcoming Memorial Day three-day weekend, which typically signals the start of the summer season.

“I’d always be lying to you if I didn’t tell you that I’m concerned,” said Justice, during his daily virtual press briefing Monday. “I’m going to stay concerned every day. The numbers all tell us that we can do this … and we’re going to monitor and stay on top of it in every way we possibly can.”

Justice reiterated West Virginia’s numbers continue to show the state’s fight against the virus is trending in the positive direction. The cumulative percentage of positive cases is hovering just above 2 percent, according to data collected by the state Department of Health and Human Resources. West Virginia has reported 54 deaths due to COVID-19, significantly lower than its neighboring states.

Despite the optimism, Justice said some sectors, including the state’s whitewater rafting industry, are not ready to open up.

“I want this industry open and running,” Justice said. “But the health experts, and they’re right, the health experts are really concerned.”

Officials, including Coronavirus Czar Dr. Clay Marsh, continue to warn West Virginians must follow the state’s safer at home order — which urges anyone who can stay home to do so — and to follow social distancing, handwashing and mask-wearing best practices.

“So, getting people back to work, to purpose, to connection, to community is very important, but this is an extraordinary time,” Marsh said. “And we know that we have to do that safely.”

State Health Officer Dr. Cathy Slemp also noted the state is ramping up testing for the coronavirus, making it available for anyone showing symptoms. She said testing is planned for some residents showing no symptoms in high-risk settings such as nursing homes, long-term care facilities and among the state’s African American population. Slemp further noted testing has been completed at all of the state’s 123 nursing homes, with 70 percent reporting no cases of COVID-19.