WHEELING — As he completes his first term on the Ohio County Board of Education, board member Andy Garber wasn’t certain he wanted to seek re-election.

But in the end, the retired Warwood School principal says “he just loves kids,” and wants to fight against any negative financial effects West Virginia’s Hope Scholarship might have on public schools.

“Why I want to run is I want to continue to fight for public education,” he said. “The Hope Scholarship is a detriment to public education. It hasn’t become a big problem right now, but down the road, it could be.”

Garber wants to see the Hope Scholarship “funded differently,” and in such a way that it is less costly to struggling school districts “with greater needs than Ohio County Schools.”

“I just love kids,” he said. “It has been my whole career.”

Garber grew up near the borough of Irwin in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Edinboro College in 1975 with a degree in education, but found it difficult finding a teaching job at first.

“Teachers were a dime a dozen in 1975,” Garber said. “So many had gone to school to dodge the draft, and the obvious choice to study was education.

“There wasn’t the need, and the system was saturated.”

Instead, he found himself managing a “Merry-Go-Round” retail store catering to teens with music and dancing.

Later, an opportunity came up through Edinboro for him to teach at an American school in Honduras and get that experience on his resume. Garber taught students from all over the world there for a year before getting a chance to come back and teach at a school in Buckhannon, West Virginia.

By 1977, he had a job teaching in Ohio County Schools at Woodsdale Elementary. He would go on to become special education director in the school district, and later principal at the Warwood School.

“I loved Warwood,” he said. “It was a great situation.”

After retiring in 2013, Garber took a job at West Liberty State College overseeing student teachers. He has also worked part-time at Oglebay Park since 1980, and continues to work as a ranger on the Palmer and Jones golf courses.

Garber said his time on the board of education has been “very good.”

“It’s the coolest thing. I do feel like I have a voice in the direction of the school system,” he continued. “We talk about things, but there has been a loss of local control.

“The Legislature has devalued public education. It’s a slap in the face to Ohio County Schools, where we have an excellent public education.”

And Garber wants to continue that excellence.

“I don’t have an agenda. I didn’t have one four years ago,” he said. “I want to continue to support Ohio County Schools, do what is best for students, staff and administrators and do what is best to help them do their job.”