Final first day held at Liberty High School

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — Harrison County kicked off the new school year bright and early on Monday. However, for some schools like Liberty High School, this was the last first day of high school.

Despite the fact that the school will be merging with Robert C. Byrd High School at the end of the year , staff and students at Liberty were excited to kick off the last year of school in Liberty’s long history.

“Kids today came in and saw a pretty normal day, they have a full staff. Staff members really happy to see them come back,” Liberty Principal Robert Herrod said. “I think that they’re excited to have another opportunity to have another year here.”

Although a handful of teachers and staff members left Liberty due to the upcoming merger, Herrod said that all resources, like the library, will still be available to students despite no dedicated position filled in the library.

“Library will be open, staff can take the students in there. We are working on a process right now to get them to be able to sign books out—just as we would in the past,” said Herrod. He added that teachers will be able to take their full classes and teach at the library and that the current plan is to have the it up and running by next week.

While it might be the high school’s last year, that doesn’t mean attendance expectations have changed, as the school plans to tackle absenteeism that has been common around the state in recent years.

“If you can provide them somewhere they want to be, we have a wonderful Career Technical Education Program here, so kids get to come and they’re using their hands, are hands-on, those things drive kids to school…We’ve never been a typical school, this is a place for greatness and a place that kids have got the opportunity to kind of come and learn and do the right thing,” Herrod said. “Truthfully, the kids that are here right now want to be here…they know this is the last year for them here, and they love the building just as much as I do, so I think that’s a good thing for us.”

Herrod said the final number of students who have completed their transfers to Robert C. Byrd is still changing, and they won’t have final numbers for about a week.

Although a bittersweet day for Liberty’s history, some students 12 News spoke with said this was just another first day of school for them, and they were just ready to go home.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WBOY.com.