Mingo
Nine Counties, One Pattern: When the State Steps In
In January 2026, the West Virginia Board of Education voted unanimously to take over Hancock County Schools. The superintendent was removed. The assistant superintendent was removed. A state-appointed...
A 13,000-Student Gap Shrinks to 726
In 2011, seven coal counties in southern West Virginia enrolled 42,554 students. Three Eastern Panhandle counties, tucked against the Maryland border 250 miles away, enrolled 29,182. The gap between t...
McDowell County has lost 42% of its students
In 2010-11, McDowell County enrolled 3,559 students. Fifteen years later, the number is 2,075. That is a loss of 1,484 students, a 41.7% decline, the steepest of any county in West Virginia. It is als...