radioNOVO News WV News Roundup for June 30, 2026

 Good morning. The Marion County School District is moving forward with a state-mandated operational plan following an extensive investigation by the West Virginia Department of Education. The state level site review was launched after local board members initially gridlocked over whether to renew the contract of Superintendent Dr. Donna Heston, despite the district performing in the top ten statewide. Investigators concluded that while the district committed no technical policy violations, several local board members overstepped their authority by launching rogue investigations and visiting classrooms without notice, creating a highly toxic work environment. The new corrective action plan strips board members of several independent privileges to ensure all future communication flows directly through the superintendent.Meanwhile, a deep school funding crisis continues to loom over state lawmakers as they struggle to overhaul West Virginia's public education formula. State school board officials warn that more campus closures are expected in the coming academic year due to massive enrollment declines. Since twenty-twelve, the state public school system has lost more than thirty-six thousand students, a deficit equivalent to losing six entire counties. Education leaders are currently tracking up to twenty separate public schools statewide that could face total closure next year, though lawmakers admit they are still struggling to find a consensus on how to adjust a formula tied directly to declining student numbers.Down in the southern panhandle, community members gathered over the weekend for an emotional ceremony renaming a local roadway to honor a victim of the historic nineteen-seventy Marshall University plane crash. The newly designated Donald Tackett Junior Memorial Road pays tribute to the former Mingo County native and Lenore High School graduate, who was serving as an athletic trainer for the Thundering Herd football team when the tragedy occurred. Family members, local student athletes, and former head football coach Bob Pruett attended the formal dedication.And Huntington Fire Chief Greg Fuller is preparing to step down from leadership at the end of the week, capping off a decorated career in fire and emergency services that spans more than four decades. Fuller, who first joined the city department in nineteen-eighty-nine, will be succeeded by an interim chief on July third while local officials search for a permanent replacement.For more news from across the state, download the radioNOVO app. I’m Codi Gaboff, radioNOVO News.