MORGANTOWN, W.Va. –– The 2025 legislative session will start February 12 and run through April 12 in Charleston. Monongalia County Delegate Joe Statler, R, 77, wants to increase school safety, give more discipline tools to teachers, and find new funding sources for fire and EMS units in the state.
On WAJR’s “Talk of the Town,” Statler said proposing a plan similar to the School Safety Officer (SSO) program in Monongalia County will be a priority. In Monongalia County, SSOs are employed through the sheriff’s department, paid by the Board of Education, and have only one mission—to respond in the event of an active shooter situation.
“That is going to be one issue I hope to put on first coming out of committee, and it will be close to what we had last year,” Statler said.
Statler said the plan will be a guide, but there will be some debate to determine how counties with smaller budgets would implement an SSO program.
“We’ve got to put things in place that will allow counties that maybe don’t have the same resources Monongalia County has to do the same things,” Statler.
Statewide, teachers and administrators have been asking for more power to deal with disruptive students in the classroom. Reports of unruly, disruptive, and even violent behavior have been on the rise in recent years.
“When a student is removed from that classroom, that principal has to watch them for the entire day,” Statler said. “And quite frankly, that’s not what we have those principals in the buildings for.”
Last session, lawmakers considered Senate Bill 614 that would have extended a law passed in 2023 for middle and high school students that allows teachers to remove students who display intimidating, threatening, or violent behavior. Statler wants to be sure any move made by lawmakers doesn’t completely exclude any student from instruction. Pulling the disruptive children out of class with no alternate education plan will not accomplish the goal of preparing the next generation for the world of work.
“We have to find a way to make this happen so that education is still coming to the student,” Statler. “Anyway you look at it, when we remove them from the classroom, we are not meeting our constitutional requirement of providing them with an education.”
Funding for fire and EMS units has been an important issue for Statler as more smaller units have dissolved due to financial problems. In Tucker County, the number of EMS crews available is being limited by cash flow, and many other units across the state face similar circumstances. Statler wants a permanent funding source moving forward after many one-time disbursements were made using once plentiful surplus money.
“We also, in my opinion, have an obligation as a state to help provide some type of services to see that people are served in the community,” Statler said. “That’s part of our job.”
The 2025, 60-day legislative session will begin Feb. 12 after two days of interim meetings that start Feb. 10.