Pell v. Board of Educ. of Monroe County , 188 W. Va. 718 ( 1992 )

NEELY, Justice,

dissenting:

Filed Dec. 7, 1992.

I disagree with the majority’s assertion that the issue in this case is not consolidation. The school board was changed by the voters of Monroe County at a regularly scheduled election to torpedo consolidation, which is what elected politics is all about. Thus, the issue before us is consolidation.

School consolidation has not been an unmixed blessing. Consolidation may be efficient, but then Auschwitz was efficient. Good instruction in chemistry, physics and mathematics is important, but it is also important that children go to school close to home, play football and be cheerleaders. At oral argument, it was undisputed that the current school system teaches advanced academic courses in English and Science and can prepare students for West Point or the University of California at Berkeley. Obviously, the current system is not broken and consolidation can wait for a proper plan that meets the needs of a larger constituency.

In a democracy, no political coalition is expected to be permanent — indeed, that almost is a precondition of democracy. In this case I find nothing arbitrary or capricious on the part of the board — they simply implemented the voters’ will in a system where government should come from the people instead of coming at the people.