Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., departs following a classified briefing on President Donald Trump's directed strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities last weekend, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WHEELING — U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders expressed interest in convening a town hall meeting at an Ohio County Schools location.

Superintendent Kim Miller told board members Monday that Sanders’ staff contacted her about the possibility of hosting a town hall meeting at one of the district’s properties.

“If that does come to fruition, and we move forward, we will let the board know when and where that will happen,” she said.

Sanders, I-Vermont, has been taking his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour to locations throughout the United States. One recent event in Washington, D.C., focused on the “teacher pay crisis in the U.S.”

In other matters, Middle Creek Elementary School Principal Katrina Lewis updated the board on efforts to make contact with families affected by June 14 flooding in Triadelphia and Valley Grove.

“It’s been a long summer for us, for sure,” Lewis said. “What has been helpful to us is we’ve always had really great communication with our families and our community. So when this happened, it made it very easy to reach out to the fire chief, the mayor, the chief of police or the Valley Grove Fire Department. Those lines of communication were very easy.”

She said she contacted an aide at her school, Robin Murphy, who had family members affected by the flooding. She asked Murphy to come on a ride with her to see if they could find some of the school families and check in on them.

“We just hit those roads as far as we go — checking in on our families and our kids and seeing what their needs are,” she said.

They ended their tour at the Valley Grove Fire Department, where they discovered volunteers were needed.

“My teachers and staff were itching to help out, and I sent the word out,” Lewis continued.

The teachers, in turn, contacted their friends and family. She said they assisted in delivering clothes, mattresses and other needed items to flood victims.

“I rode my first side-by-side when I went out to deliver clothes,” she said.

Lewis added that most of the students and their families now have her personal cellphone number if they need to contact her.

“My goal for this school year is I just want to create a place where they (students) are just coming in, and their routines are set,” she said.

Monday’s board meeting again took place in Wheeling City Council chambers at the City-County Building in downtown Wheeling. The board was displaced following the flooding that severely damaged the Ohio County Schools Central Office building and adjacent board of education meeting room.

The central office staff is presently working out of Steenrod Elementary School, but Miller indicated work on the regular offices is progressing.

“I was informed today by (David Crumm, director of operations for Ohio County Schools), that the walls are back, and painting is going on,” she said. “Floors will be laid soon, and we will be bringing back the furniture that is able to be brought back.”

Miller added that the next board meeting likely will take place at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 11 in council chambers. But she expects the board will be able to return to its regular location for its meeting on Aug. 25.