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By Liz Beavers
lbeavers@newstribune.info
Tribune Managing Editor
KEYSER – Given the authority by the Mineral County Board of Education earlier this month to make the decisions as to what types of “outside materials” may be distributed to the county's school children, Superintendent of Schools Skip Hackworth said this week that he has been “consistent” in making those decisions.
“The answer has been no,” he said Tuesday, when asked by former Mineral County teacher William “Butch” Wahl what the outcome had been of the recent request from the Gideon International to make copies of The Bible available to students at Fountain Primary School.
The request, made in early November, touched off a debate among the board members as to whether materials from outside agencies could or should be made available to students.
After wrestling for two months with a proposed policy on the issue, the board members decided on Jan. 6 that no policy would be the best policy.
“My personal feeling is, what we have now is not broke, so why fix it?” Board President Terry LaRue said, noting that the board had previously placed the power to approve or deny such requests in Hackworth's hands.
Agreeing that he was “satisfied with the way it's been done in the past,” board member Bob Shook said he also did not feel a policy was needed.
“Not one person who spoke to me about this was in support of initiating this policy,” he said.
Hackworth told the board members at the time that he would “be very happy” to continue to receive the requests himself and make the decision as to what materials would be appropriate based on criteria set forth by the United States Supreme Court.
“I will use the same criteria I've been using for the past 6 ½ years,” he said.
Tuesday, Wahl, who had urged the board to “forget about this policy” on Jan. 6, asked Hackworth what his decision had been in the case of the Gideons.
“I have been consistent in my six years in this position,” Hackworth said.
“The answer has always been no. There are no religious presentations by any religious group.”
By Liz Beavers
lbeavers@newstribune.info
Tribune Managing Editor
KEYSER – Given the authority by the Mineral County Board of Education earlier this month to make the decisions as to what types of “outside materials” may be distributed to the county's school children, Superintendent of Schools Skip Hackworth said this week that he has been “consistent” in making those decisions.
“The answer has been no,” he said Tuesday, when asked by former Mineral County teacher William “Butch” Wahl what the outcome had been of the recent request from the Gideon International to make copies of The Bible available to students at Fountain Primary School.
The request, made in early November, touched off a debate among the board members as to whether materials from outside agencies could or should be made available to students.
After wrestling for two months with a proposed policy on the issue, the board members decided on Jan. 6 that no policy would be the best policy.
“My personal feeling is, what we have now is not broke, so why fix it?” Board President Terry LaRue said, noting that the board had previously placed the power to approve or deny such requests in Hackworth's hands.
Agreeing that he was “satisfied with the way it's been done in the past,” board member Bob Shook said he also did not feel a policy was needed.
“Not one person who spoke to me about this was in support of initiating this policy,” he said.
Hackworth told the board members at the time that he would “be very happy” to continue to receive the requests himself and make the decision as to what materials would be appropriate based on criteria set forth by the United States Supreme Court.
“I will use the same criteria I've been using for the past 6 ½ years,” he said.
Tuesday, Wahl, who had urged the board to “forget about this policy” on Jan. 6, asked Hackworth what his decision had been in the case of the Gideons.
“I have been consistent in my six years in this position,” Hackworth said.
“The answer has always been no. There are no religious presentations by any religious group.”
