Mingo County schools closed Wednesday for the summer after a school term, 2009-2010, that saw extremely bad weather, slick roads, flooding in some areas and power outages plaguing the school system.

Assistant Superintendent Randy Keathley said 13 days of classroom time were lost because of power outages. He noted the various plagues of the school year, which also included what was referred to as the H1N1 flu scare. No cases were reported during the flu season.

Students' final day in the classroom for the term was Monday with teachers and other school personnel winding up their chores Wednesday.

Keathley said the school system had a sufficient number of teachers and other personnel throughout the year.

"Hopefully, when the new term starts in late summer, we will have a more flexible school calendar that will help cope with setbacks in the weather or mechanical problems," said Keathley.

The school system changed superintendents this spring with David L. Roach succeeding Dwight D. Dials.

There has been consideration in the West Virginia Legislature of a bill relating to the annual school calendar and which would provide that the instructional term commence on Aug. 21. This would allow county boards to extend the instructional term to June 13 if 180 instructional days have not occurred on or before June 8. The bill also would provide for the scheduling of additional noninstructional days prior to the commencement of the instructional term.

Construction on the new Mingo Central High School is 41 percent completed and is expected to be ready by the time the 2011-2012 school term gets underway. It is being built for the purpose of consolidating initially three high schools in Williamson, Delbarton and Matewan, with Gilbert to be incorporated later. Along with the incorporation will come various reconfigurations affecting other schools in the county.

Meanwhile, swimming pools, picnic areas, and family vacations await the enjoyment of the students, professional and service personnel.

One highlight of the school year was Williamson High School's 100th year reunion the past weekend in Williamson. Thirty-four members of the school's graduating class received diplomas in a ceremony at the West Williamson fieldhouse. Retired four-star Gen. Robert G.Foglesong of the U.S. Air Force was the keynote speaker.

WHS Principal Johnny Branch revealed at the graduation and also during the reunion activities that all of this year's WHS graduates applied for entrance to various colleges. He said the students obtained scholarships that total $750,000. Branch added that a neighboring county's high school with four times that number of graduates had the same amount of scholarships.

Keathley said he has not yet obtained the latest enrollment figures for Mingo's school system so as to determine if the system lost or gained any enrollment during the 2009-2010 school year.