W. Va. county hopes national pilot project will revitalize its failing schools and communities

It may take a village to raise a child, but in McDowell County, West Virginia, officials hope a nation can revitalize the school system. The American Federation of Teachers, a union that typically represents teachers in urban areas, has initiated an "unprecedented experiment" bringing together more than 40 public- and private-sector groups to develop an education plan for the county. A five-year project called Reconnecting McDowell will address issues like poverty, technology and transportation that limit educational opportunities in the county. AFT hopes the project will be a successful model for rural districts across the country. (Wikipedia map)

Poster at abandoned school in Iaeger, W.Va.
Washington Post photo by Michael Williamson

Amy Harris of The Charleston Gazette reports the state Education Department took over McDowell's schools in 2001 to fix its high rates of dropout, shortage of qualified teachers, very low reading and math scores and the "deplorable filthy, unsafe and disgusting" schools that were damaged by flooding, but are still in use. The department consolidated schools, hired new superintendents and built new facilities but failed to improve test scores. "There are issues in McDowell that go beyond the school system and get to ingrained cultural feelings about education and a number of economic problems," State Board of Education member Gayle Manchin told Harris. The wife of U.S. Sen. and former Gov. Joe Manchin sought AFT's help for such a project. (Read more)

Lyndsey Layton of The Washington Post reports the project's overall cost is unknown, but AFT has already committed staff time and $100,000 to the planning phase. Investments will directly affect schools, with companies including Cisco Systems, coal company Alpha Natural Resources and Frontier Communications pledging to improve the county's technology, Internet access and broadband service. Nonprofits have agreed to provide books, and the Rahall Appalachian Transportation Institute will work on that infrastructure. Other groups have offered to give families better access to health care, drug prevention and treatment and more recreation. Layton reports a similar initiative created the "Harlem Children's Zone" and has been very successful, but these types of services in McDowell County must be built from the ground up because they don't currently exist. (WIlliamson photo: Students at Bradshaw Elementary, which doesn't have enough computers or Internet bandwidth)