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Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that Monday’s town hall meeting will now be open to the public.
WHEELING — As school districts across West Virginia are set to remain closed Monday for a third straight school day due to a statewide teacher strike, Gov. Jim Justice is wading into the fray by scheduling a visit to Wheeling Park High School Monday morning to address public school teachers and employees.
Justice is slated to speak at Wheeling Park’s J.B. Chambers Performing Arts Center at 8:30 a.m. Monday, according to Ohio County Schools Assistant Superintendent Rick Jones. The event is now open to the public — it had been set at 100 participants earlier today, Ohio County Schools officials said, but the governor agreed to meet with as many people as possible to discuss the strike.
Calls to the governor’s office were not immediately returned this evening. Justice also will visit Spring Mills High School in Martinsburg at 11:30 a.m., and University High School in Morgantown at 1:30 p.m.
The teacher strike is also likely to be the topic of discussion when the Ohio County Board of Education meets later in the day Monday. The location of the meeting has been changed, and the board will now meet at 6 p.m. at the Beneke Theater at Wheeling Park.
Jones said he doesn’t yet know whether schools will be closed on Tuesday, as that decision will likely come from Monday’s board meeting.
School administrators across West Virginia, meanwhile, will be closely monitoring the happenings when the West Virginia state Board of Education meets at 2 p.m. Tuesday at its office in Charleston. State Superintendent of Schools Steven Paine has indicated the board may discuss at the meeting seeking an injunction that would force the teachers back to work on Wednesday.
“That sounds like the route they are taking,” Jones said. “If that’s the route, everyone will be in school Wednesday. We believe our employees will follow the injunction, and come back to school.
“If there is not an injunction, there will be an entirely different set of thoughts and meetings.”