A few weeks into Governor Jim Justice’s term, and education in West Virginia is seeing some significant changes to curriculum.

In his inaugural address, Gov. Justice proposed education reform which has come in the form of Senate Bill 420.

The first change to directly impact students is the cancellation of the Summative Exam Assessment for freshmen and sophomores.  Juniors and seniors will continue with the assessment as scheduled. The science standardized exam will also still be administered as planned.

Despite this change in standardized testing, LCHS will still continue with interim exams Mr. Derek Lambert told teachers in the Feb. 24 Faculty-Senate meeting.

Another possible change is the elimination of the school grade evaluation system.  According to MetroNews’s Feb. 23 article, Gov. Justice wants to “end the A to F grading of public schools by amending school accreditation, accountability and school performance to include multiple measures.”

LCHS teachers had mixed feelings about the grade scale system as The Blue & Grey reported last month.

Another proposal is the destruction of the WV Department of Education and eliminating the eight state RESAs.

“This is one change I hope we don’t see happen.  We have great tech support from our RESA computer technicians.  I’m not sure how our school would function without their support.  Our school system could not afford to add employees to their payroll to cover all of what they do,” Mrs. Lesley White, English teacher, said.

One change many students said they favor is making the 180 instructional policy to be more flexible for local communities.

Gov. Justice has said many times that he is a advocate for education, and he wants to make education a priority.

Until his election, Gov. Justice was the head basketball coach and had been a supporter of public education in his home county.